My Response To EA’s Letter
This is not what I typically post about or get involved with… but the recent letter from the EA really infuriated me. Initially, I was a big defender the gurus because I know what it is like to work in a big corporation with deadlines/budgets and approval processes. However, my perspective changed after watching the livestream when the gurus were going over the Knifty Knitting pack it became clear to me that they do have quite a bit of flexibility in what they design.
Then came the letter from the gurus this past week and, well, I needed to get this off my chest so I can let go of the anger.
We want you to know we’ve been seeing all your feedback and we hear you.
In one ear and right out the other.
As we always have been, we’re committed to growing The Sims as a game and as a community, so instead of trying to respond to a variety of tweets we wanted to consolidate some thoughts and updates in one place:
We are working on adding significantly more skin tones before the end of the year, and will share news on our progress soon. Beyond that, we’re committed to continuing to expand representation in The Sims 4. This is not one step, but a journey.
On upcoming content - when we consider something for addition to the game we consider what it will take to update it meaningfully.
What is there to consider? At this point you could literally add bunkbeds or improve babies in ANY way and simmers would be happy. Why does is take years to consider this?
This is just as true for babies as it would be for cars, bunk beds or any other number of feature requests.
Yet you found time to consider and implement spaceships and murphy beds?
Sometimes there is foundational technology we need to work through and sometimes we need to dig into designs more deeply to make sure we understand your expectations.
I have two responses to this. Your excuse that you need to work through some foundational technology is just invalid and completely false. Modders and CC creators have been able to implement many of the features you refuse to add with the existing technology and code.
What don’t you understand about our expectations? Well, apparently there is a lot you don’t understand but your team has had YEARS to better understand the simming community requests - they aren’t new. Again, you could literally implement any of the main requests in just about any form and you would make simmers happy. Luckily, you have set the bar so low any improvement would be considered drastic.
This work takes time, and we don’t update you on these projects until they become more real. Game development in general can feel like a long process and, like most of the world, we are adjusting to a continued state of working from home.
Many modders and CC creators have fulfilled the simming community’s needs and requests on our free time, with no budget, no team, and in much faster timeframes.
In just a matter of weeks we’ll be sharing more about our next Expansion Pack, which we’ve been working on since last year. I want to set expectations now, though, that cars, babies, farms and bunk beds are not part of this EP. We understand how important these features are to you but we want to be honest that they are not part of this upcoming pack.
Do you mention you have been working on it for the past year to give us the impression there was no way you could have incorporated the requests into this game pack? The major, main requests aren’t new and certainly came before you started this upcoming EP within the last year. This is just deflection and not taking responsibility.
And it is apparent that you DON’T understand how important these features are to the community. Or maybe you understand and just don’t really care.
As a team, we are going to make more of an effort to communicate what’s coming with more regularity and transparency so that you continue to feel in the loop about new features, experiences, packs, and general information.
This is a step in the right direction. I will believe it when I see it.
That’s it for now, and you’ll be hearing more from us soon. In the meantime, all we ask of you is to be kind, engage in constructive conversations with each other, and continue to celebrate what makes the Sims special to YOU.
We have been engaging in constructive conversations with ourselves. The community has been constructive not only in conversation but also taking action - ever heard of MCCC, Slice of Life, and the countless other mods and CC that fill in the voids you refuse to fix? The problem is YOU don’t engage in constructive conversations with US.
And I can assure you that we will continue to listen, continue to invest in The Sims 4 and continue to engage with you.
Continue to listen? You haven’t listened. You need to start listening.
You don’t engage with us. You only engage with large youtubers that help you advertise the game. You don’t really even engage with the Game Changer community unless they are a huge influencer.
We could not do what we do without our players.
You wouldn’t have a job. So maybe show us some respect and start sincerely caring and acting on our requests.
SimGuru Lyndsay & the Sims Team
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