https://variety.com/2024/gaming/new...iew-1236142010/

Wow. Not that I'm surprised.

And whose fault is it that this has been going on for over a decade, Kate?

I think I speak for most people when I say that the fanbase has been ready to move on for years now (save for a few whiny fucks who cry about the thought of having to go back to a vanilla base game as if what we have right now is that much better).

And really, a simple fix for this issue would be to finally quit being stubborn and release a base game with actual substance, meaning weather and pets included. Those features have been a part of the series forever, it's time to start including them from day 1.

Really this is just EA admitting that they're too cheap to release a fleshed out base game and using people's complaints about barebones base games against them so they can let TS4 keep running on life support until it fizzles out and the series is effectively dead.

To a certain point, I wouldn't mind it so much if the game worked much better than it does.

I agree with just about all of that. I also think part of it is they finally got some competition and realized they weren't going to be the only game in town anymore. It's a lot easier to do what you want to do when you have no competition

Seems counterintuitive if you ask me. They know that multiple studios are now making life sim games optimized for next-gen hardware with features that the fans want that The Sims 4 will never have (open world, color wheels, more intuitive building, etc.). Why would this not be their wake-up call to release their next-gen option to keep up with the competition? Why do they think that The Sims 4 will be able to even remotely compete against these games? Unless this is just them throwing in the towel and handing the crown off to the incoming competitors because they have no interest in the series anymore. If so, they should be ashamed of themselves for killing The Sims the same way they killed SimCity. I can only imagine what Will Wright thinks about all of this.

I doubt thinks too much of about The Sims and cares that it ended or will it end. But for certaintly he can pride himself in inventing/creating thing. It certainly is a shame where EA/MAXIS lost its sense what the sims 1 was or how it came to be. Could at least consider and respect how it originated, where they no longer seem to aknowledge 10th year anniversary (or wait, its the sims 4's, but still . We had gone past 24-25ish.)

Project Rene is just Maxis playing it oh so safe.

They know multiplayer doesn’t work in this series but are probably expected to build a live service of sorts.

The fact that you can only “build”’an apartment and not houses is a turn off. What else can we not build?

TS4 seems to be selling well enough. If I have to purchase activities for each season instead of an expansion, I’m not buying it. The Base Game + Expansion Pack model is still successful, they’re just cheap.

Although prior to your post, @kennyinbmore, I had heard of Inzoi, but I didn't pay them much attention. But after this, I went and checked them out. And I must say, I am impressed. And I am anticipating its release. I don't know how many others may be thinking like me, but even at that, I must say, I don't think it's going to be as easy as any of us may think. What I mean is, there's something about The Sims that's going to stay with us, even if we permanently jump ship. I'm not talking about just TS4. but the entire Sims franchise.

There's something about The Sims that I don't think Inzoi, or Paralives, or any other Sims-type game will be able to match, at least not for a good long while, and it will keep us true Sims lovers attached to The Sims for a long, long time. What is it? I'm not fully sure. Perhaps a good word for it is "nostalgia'. We'll always remember playing those games, be it TS4, TS3, TS2 or even the very first one - which I still remember - and the times we truly had fun with the game(s). I kinda liken it to the days I used to play Monopoly and Scrabble. I haven't played those games since childhood. But I still remember the fun I had, especially after winning a few times.

There are those games that you play, maybe even more than once, then put it down and never return to it again.
And then there are game that stay with you. Even after years of not playing. Even a picture of it - or hearing the name - brings back memories. I think for many of us who may someday jump The Sims ship, it will be that way.

And perhaps, that may even be what EA/Maxis is hopping for. So why be worried about competition?

"You were the first one. You were the last one." - The Buggles, Video Killed The Radio Star (A song very fitting for what you posted!)

That's why I clicked disagree to the OP. I'll never jump ship fully from The Sims series. Even if it had gone in a direction I don't particularly care for.

Give 50 years, a new generation might not know (magority) that The Sims game existed (or so much in terms of faded popularity) or alone have its mods and utilities update-streak running if the veterans diminish overtime. If there is another succesful competitor following its genre foosteps, people will be already moved ships to it. It’s like with those first person shooter games: halo, counter strike, four lives are what the first one was called? Nowadays people already moved to call of duty and halo or whatever. So it’s not us who have to worry, but long term corporation to care about us gen x / millenial / me to have us hooked or be carried to their offering alternative.

As proven with TS4 us 'veteran' players are not the ideal target audience anymore. It's all about the selfie generation, the cellphone and social media generation. Them 18-25 year olds that don't have a clue about squat.

I have mixed thoughts about Inzoi, paralives, etc. On one hand some fresh ideas would make this genre better, but at the same time if they succeed then The Sims is left with two choices, keep down its current route and ignore the competitor(s) which isn't a healthy business strategy which would cause the sims to fail and EA killing it off like they do everything else that don't make them a crap-ton of moolah, or it'll change and morph into something different to appeal to the audience that the competitor has/is targeting to. Either way, us old timers are left in the dust.

Now, competition can be a healthy way of exchanging ideas, but lest we cannot forget the core values that made The Sims series appealing in the first place. Knowing EA, they'll will, as they already have started to.

Hey, watch it now. I'm 24 and I started with The Sims 1 back in 2006 lol. I've been here for awhile and I know what The Sims is capable of achieving when the people behind the game give a damn.

I personally prefer The Sims do die out and something new, innovative and reinventing occurs. I distrust EA so much that I’m glad they’re not making TS5 (because they proven with TS4 how much they had failed; no amount of monet or resource they have gonna convince me we will get a better game). While the focus over social media careers like in inZoi annoy me (two of three active careers consist of that; not good portrayal of real life variety), do keep in mind its logical thing that a newest life simulator has to keep track with the modern times to some extent (it be like conplaining from eldery player lense for TS2/TS1 having telephones and tvs, when Sims dont go outside or touch grass). I rather orher competitors get their take and chance of opportunity than EA selling another 60$ game with no ability to build a second floor, grim reaper or baby/elder phased entirely skipped out. What’s the point of having a sequel if it still doesn’t surpass Sims TWO?

All EA has to do to restore faith, is do a proper remaster of The Sims 3, and fix its old bugs. That's really all they have to do. They could re-brand it as The Sims 3-1/2. I even have an entire blog post about it! I'll share some samples below of AI mockups, and how easy it would be, except they won't do it:



Standard Greenlandic-themed custom world. Not much, but it works. I play-tested it. Could use some more Sims / activity.



Still not InZoi quality; but what a huge difference a simple graphics overhaul could make!



Jissika Sundue from my Anarteq series, jogging through the woods. Blah blah blah.



Again, still not InZoi, but I could see players falling in love with this design.



Krea got a little drunk when I asked for a Q-Basic Gorillas for The Sims 3 remake. This Col. Flix looks like he's ready to be in Michael Bay film, for sure! This one is almost InZoi though. EA would never go for this much realism!

I can agree with most of that. The thing is though, I might play The Sims 4 once or twice a year. That's one Sims game I don't miss playing. Gone are the days when I fired up TS2 or 3 and knew I wouldn't see the outside world for 4 hours or more. For all intents and purposes, I've already been living without The Sims for a few years now. I'm ready to give the competition a shot and see where it goes

Town Stories leaked and it’s yet another mobile game using assets from The Sims 4.

I gave The Sims Mobile a pass because it looked to be in alignment with The Sims 4, but I can’t support another project eating off of 4’s 5-10 year old assets.

I get you.

I still play TS4 at least three or four times a week, but generally I can't play for long during a session because it quickly bores me. It makes no sense even to me why I still like it.