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The Values That Shape The Sims - https://www.ea.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/news/the-values-that-shape-the-sims
Inclusivity: The Sims is for everyone.
Perhaps concrete actions are needed to make it believable, because currently:
- Pronouns (2022) : non-English languages are missing
- Sexual Orientation (2022) : Gender Options are ignored
- Gender Options (2016) : Maxis gave up to provide clothing to Feminine Male - 10 years !!!
Project Rene has evolved into a social, collaborative, mobile-first life-sim game.
So they decided to sunset The Sims Mobile to continue production on... another mobile game. 🙃
"Did I ever tell you what the definition of insanity is?"
Well, that was a whole lot of nothing with just a bunch of meaningless buzz words and some mention of a mobile game no one cares about.
The vibe I got was ALOT of tip toeing around the subject of THIS version of the Sims. They said we would see updates and content, but didn't really do anything to ease my fears that the content would be anything more than kits. Where is our roadmap, detailing when and what we are to see in the future of Sims 4? They spent 95% of this announcement discussing future projects OUTSIDE of the Sims 4. That says ALOT to me about where the future of Sims 4 is and I am afraid that other than updates and kits, that is all we will get and it's only to placate those of us who have spent SO MUCH $ on this version, hoping to not scare us off from getting $ for these future projects.
I SO HOPE I AM WRONG!
This article isn't translated in French ...
with more than half of our global development team dedicated to The Sims 4 and the next evolution.
Half ??? So less people work on TS4 and Project X ?
Project Rene and Project Stories are vampirizing The Sims 4 by draining money and developers ?
The Sims Mobile didn't have the social component. I like the bits I saw about the world, hope they make it interesting.
There is a crown in one of the images. I think it's a hint to the next EP about royalty. I am curious what the next evolution is about, new packs for TS4 or other sims games like project Renee or project X.
I see a crown... is that a way of hinting to the next EP...?
The Values that Shape the Sims.
I'm glad this element won't change, and it's good to see this in the face of all that uncertainty with the buyout. I definitely believe the people working on Sims 4 are genuinely concerned about inclusivity, and that hasn't changed. That said, I'm still not sure what to make of this post. A lot of this is just vague words about "giving players tools to be creative." It sounds more like platitudes. They even tiptoed around why people were concerned about this in the first place. I have a lot of critiques and concerns about how they go about inclusivity (or a lack of it, in some cases), but that's just me going into a rant.
So yeah. Like the idea of the post, hate the execution. This isn't anything new or different from the last few posts they made about the subject.
What We’re Working On
The "next evolution stuff" is vague. Like, what does any of this mean? How will stuff on multiple platforms connect? Is it a real connective experience, or just corporate speak for being able to play a bunch of unconnected games that don't do anything for each other? (Aside from the inevitable cross-promotional FOMO items designed to incentivize people to sign up for multiple games.)
I know they don't want to go into things that are still in development and subject to change. Or they don't want to overshadow Sims 4 and doom its sales. Or they don't want to ruin the surprise. But in the age of leaks, rumors and misinformation, I feel like they should have done more to either be more transparent and confirm things, or officially deny misinformation.
The one thing they do say is that The Sims 4 isn't going anywhere and will continue to get content. But from what I see with my own eyes, it does look like things are going that route. Last year we got 3 EPs and like 200000000 kits. The only basegame updates were EP leftovers - only two of them had actual gameplay, and one of them was just a reskin of an old lot type with some minor tweaks, that wasn't made with the basegame in mind because it wanted us to have a lot of playground equipment. Heck, reading this, and they don't talk about Sims 4 much specifically. I care more about The Sims 4's future, than the future of a bunch of other games that won't come out for years.
Project Rene
Skip.
Also, they say they appreciate us, they talk about keeping their commitment to inclusion, and they talk about future projects. But I really wish they would emphasize listening to players, too. The game is becoming a FOMO-driven mess with less and less focus on gameplay, and more focus on buying kits. It's only gotten worse over time. I know that wasn't part of the post's mission statement, but transparency is a big part of this, and we're not getting a lot of it. It's hard to accept talk about appreciating players, only to double-down on anti-player tactics.
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