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.