i want a cool brown house and i want it now!!

It means, if customers believe that they can ever possibly get a limited time item again, they will have time to think about the purchase before buying it. You have to truly believe that it is now or never. If you believe that, you are more likely to buy something you would not otherwise buy. That is why it is about the long game.

They could make a lot of money by selling limited time items that are no longer around. But, someone in marketing believes that this will cause fewer people to buy limited time items in the future, because there is a hope, however slim, that they can get it again later. If you can get it again later, you don't need to pull out the credit card in the last few hours before it gets removed forever from the game.

That is the thought process. By raising your anxiety level over past items, you are less likely to let the next CBH item go without purchasing it, or so the theory goes. Never mind that you will lose some customers along the way that want to purchase things they either had no chance to buy, or no money to buy at the time, the main goal is to get the impulse buy in the future, and every impulse buy after that.

The only way to keep people itchy on the buying finger for limited time items (in EA's mind) is to stand fast to the limited time. The more pain you feel over never having a CBH, the less likely you are to let the next item slip away without busting out the Credit Card. Again, so the theory goes.

JohnSinger wrote:
someone in marketing believes that this will cause fewer people to buy limited time items in the future, because there is a hope, however slim, that they can get it again later. If you can get it again later, you don't need to pull out the credit card in the last few hours before it gets removed forever from the game.
By raising your anxiety level over past items, you are less likely to let the next CBH item go without purchasing it, or so the theory goes. Never mind that you will lose some customers along the way that want to purchase things they either had no chance to buy, or no money to buy at the time, the main goal is to get the impulse buy in the future, and every impulse buy after that.

*sigh*




The cool brown house was FREE in the limited time it was available. Your argument is invalid.




Tapped Out wasn't available on all devices when "Day the Earth Stood Cool" aired and players got their (free) cool brown house. Android players missed out on it through no real fault of their own, and are still willing to pay for it. EA is missing a bet, there.

EA should never release old tie in items again.

Hey, I want the Cool Brown House just as much as you do. I'm simply explaining the ONLY reason why a company turns down money to give away something that is already created, takes up no additional space, has no production cost for continued production because it is unlimited, and is hysterically sought after by people willing to pay for it.

That reason is because they believe they will get more money by proving to everyone that LIMITED TIME, means NOW or NEVER. They want you to feel very sad and angry that you do not have the Cool Brown House, but only so angry that you will buy the next limited time item out of spite, not enough that you stop playing.

I don't think that they've made the right decision there. I believe sticking to their guns on limited time items will eventually cost them people. I think it has already cost them people who use hacks instead of buying things legitimately. But someone in control thinks that the best way to get more sales of doughnuts in the future is to make you impulse buy limited time items. It doesn't matter than the Cool Brown House was free, it was limited, and it's the limited part that needs to mean something.

JohnSinger wrote:
Hey, I want the Cool Brown House just as much as you do. I'm simply explaining the ONLY reason why a company turns down money to give away something that is already created, takes up no additional space, has no production cost for continued production because it is unlimited, and is hysterically sought after by people willing to pay for it.

That reason is because they believe they will get more money by proving to everyone that LIMITED TIME, means NOW or NEVER. They want you to feel very sad and angry that you do not have the Cool Brown House, but only so angry that you will buy the next limited time item out of spite, not enough that you stop playing.

I don't think that they've made the right decision there. I believe sticking to their guns on limited time items will eventually cost them people. I think it has already cost them people who use hacks instead of buying things legitimately. But someone in control thinks that the best way to get more sales of doughnuts in the future is to make you impulse buy limited time items. It doesn't matter than the Cool Brown House was free, it was limited, and it's the limited part that needs to mean something.

people use hacks for limited time items cause they want them and ea never release them again so they do. Ea fault

Exactly my point. EA can't do much about people buying donuts from third party sites. Spend $500 dollars in game for everything, or spend $10 and get nearly unlimited donuts from some hack.

The only thing keeping people from doing that is their own ethics, the fear of getting scammed out of cash, the worry that their account will be closed, and the legitimately good desire to help support the game so that it will continue to get new content. On the other hand, when the only option to buy something is to go to a hacker, EA makes the mistake of pushing people who are actually willing to spend those large sums on donuts into looking for any option to get limited time items, and at the moment, that seems to be using those hacking sites.

I hope they make more of an effort to bring a purchase option to those people who want past items, because in that regard, it isn't a choice between the shady black market or the overpriced legitimate EA store, its either the back alley or nothing at all.

JohnSinger wrote:
someone in control thinks that the best way to get more sales of doughnuts in the future is to make you impulse buy limited time items. It doesn't matter than the Cool Brown House was free, it was limited, and it's the limited part that needs to mean something.

I own the Ray Gun, despite not playing last Halloween. I got it this year. By your insane logic, they would have never re-released the Ray Gun because it was limited time. It would have only been available in October-ish of 2012, and if you missed it that's just too bad. Even if it wasn't possible to play on your device at the time.

This hypothetical marketing policy you've dreamed up does not exist. There is no unbending policy on "limited time." EA can, and does, do whatever they want with any items in the game. The only thing that seems to happen consistently is that items will go from being free to costing donuts, or possibly cost more donuts than they previously did.

So. Free item. Lots of people will pay donuts. Donuts means money. Bottom line wins, all the bright-faced paying customers are happy. Longer term players didn't have to pay (and hey, maybe now they can have two cool brown houses. Why the heck not? I've seen plenty of people wishing they could have more than one of them.) Everybody wins, really.

I didn't say it was logical, or that I want them to do that. I said that IS the reason they are not doing it.

The reason you choose not to sell something that people want to buy, especially when there is no possibility of shortage, no cost to create because the item already exists, is to create an atmosphere of scarcity in a world of infinite. Since they can give out unlimited of the items and no longer have to pay the designer, they fear people will think they should be cheap. By making some things that even money can't buy, people get the idea that they need to buy something as soon as it comes out. To them, it is much more important that people are sad they can never get the CBH so that they buy the next limited time item before it goes away and enjoy whatever free limited time items they get.

Yes, I also agree that simply making limited time items cost more the next go around is a far more rational thing to do than never sell it again. But you want a reason why they refuse to sell something that costs them nothing, and that is THE reason, the ONLY reason.

I missed out on being the owner of a cool brown house, but I too really wanted one. I gave up on EA ever re releasing it so I bought some land and using my neighbours springfields for reference I built a replica from the ground up. Cost a fortune but it was worth it. The only real problem is due to the messed up scaling in tapped out, it actually turned out to be about the same size as a common garden shed :(

It looks exactly the same as the in game one, posting a picture of a fake brown house would be as pointless as opening a thread about wanting one here.