Here’s a pertinent question: Could more expansions drive players away from The Sims 4?
It may sound ludicrous, but in actuality, it’s more reasonable than you think. Why? Well, let’s dig in and find out, because The Sims 4 is more than a decade old, and a much different game; and perhaps that’s not the best thing.
Hanging around for a while now
I think the framing for this question is The Sims 4 and its longevity. It’s still going strong more than a decade after launch,and with new expansions and a thriving community of creators making both custom assets and content covering the game.
Yet, as we’ve covered in our pieces talking about The Sims 5, it can be a bit worrying that The Sims 4 seems to be growing stale.
The core gameplay loop remains as appealing as ever. Build your own little family, enjoy the melodrama, take on challenges and build your dream home. All of these features and more keep people playing.
And each expansion adds more and more for people to enjoy.
Taking too long
Now, I should clarify that I don’t think the expansion bloat will actively drive away players in the short term. A decade is not all that long for the kind of super-loyal (and super-enthusiastic) fans that The Sims 4 has. And being a SimCity fan myself, I know that players will keep returning time-and-time again no matter what.
I suppose then the question is whether or not people will actively keep participating in and buying stuff for The Sims 4. After all, the more expansions we have the more ‘feature complete’ that TS4 arguably becomes.
In essence, I don’t think people will stop playing The Sims 4 anytime soon. But whether organically or as a response to EA’s continued pricey expansions, sooner or later people are going to stop buying and stick with what they’ve got.
More and more
Of course that’s not even covering the idea of a lack of fresh blood. The super-nice releases with similar high barriers to entry price-wise that I know of – like DCS and Paradox’s whole catalogue – benefit from being in two very nice genres.
The Sims 4, meanwhile, benefits from a humungous playerbase: young and old of all creeds and ancestries. These aren’t the hyper-dedicated nerds (I say with tongue firmly in cheek being a Dungeons & Dragons player) who’ll eagerly drop money no matter what.
All this to say that expansions driving people away isn’t some pie-in-the-sky idea. A lack of new blood, a high barrier to entry, and an audience that might just decide they’ve got everything they need means that sooner or later, EA’s purchasing audience will dry up.
What’s next?
So what’s the solution? Well, I think it’s fair to say a long-term approach from EA would be good. More sales, or perhaps an explicit dedication to going back and polishing all the fundamentals of The Sims 4, perhaps even an entire overhaul!
It certainly wouldn’t be unprecedented to undertake a major renovation and perhaps rebrand as The Sims Forever or something similar. But without The Sims 5 on the horizon and Project Rene offering a very different take on the franchise, there’s not much major to look forward to.
Admittedly, expansions have been very engaging recently, ranging from Businesses & Hobbies to the most recent Enchanted by Nature. So Maxis isn’t likely to run out of ideas yet. But that doesn’t mean they’ll have them forever…
