I’ve been writing about The Sims 4’s content ever since the beginning and I just had to write this article considering that there seems to be an interesting switch in the way that The Sims Team is doing this.
Now, you’re all probably aware of the article we wrote a few months ago where SimGuruKate publicly issued that The Sims Team is shaking up the way that they’re releasing new content. In case you don’t remember – here’s a tweet she shared:
I didn’t say that the quarterly teasers had to stop to deliver content the community wanted. Rather I am saying we (as in EA/Maxis) are shaking up the way content is delivered and because of this quarterly teasers no longer make sense.
— ❄️SnowGuruKate❄️ (@SimGuruKate) July 2, 2018
She mentioned the fact that one of the main reasons why Quarterly Teasers stopped being a thing is because The Sims Team is switching the way they are delivering new content to the public. Now, that didn’t make much sense until the last few weeks when I realized all of the content we received this year. Let’s take a look at the pack release pattern that we had in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and the pack release pattern that we had this year:
2015:
- 2 Expansion Packs (Get to Work, Get Together)
- 2 Game Packs (Outdoor Retreat, Spa Day)
- 4 Stuff Packs (Luxury Party, Perfect Patio, Cool Kitchen, Spooky Stuff)
2016:
- 1 Expansion Pack (City Living)
- 1 Game Pack (Dine Out)
- 5 Stuff Packs (Movie Hangout, Romantic Garden, Kids Room, Backyard Stuff, Vintage Glamour)
2017:
- 1 Expansion Pack (Cats & Dogs)
- 2 Game Packs (Vampires, Parenthood)
- 3 Stuff Packs (Bowling Night, Fitness Stuff, Toddler Stuff) + Stuff Pack that was developed together between The Sims Team and the community released in January 2018
2018:
- 2 Expansion Packs (Seasons, Get Famous)
- 1 Game Pack (Jungle Adventure)
- 2 Stuff Packs (Laundry Day, My First Pet)
In 2018 The Sims Team had the lowest amount of packs released. Now, that doesn’t really mean anything considering that the amount of new content they’ve given us this year is the same (or even more) than they’ve released in previous years. 2015 brought big packs such as Get to Work (which was probably in development since the finishing stages of the base game) and Get Together (which relied on some of the older assets that were planned for the base game – Windenburg).
However, there seems to be a big turn this year. 2018 brought the smallest amount of Stuff Packs to the table and the latest pack release was in March 2018 when The Sims 4 My First Pet Stuff Pack came out. The Laundry Day Stuff Pack was somewhere between 2017 and 2018 considering it was released very early this year (January 2018). Plus, it was a community project that took more time than usual considering that The Sims Team had to count and consider all the votes from multiple polls that they’ve published.
So, what is truly different in 2018?
Expansion Packs. The Sims 4 had to go through two years where the team would only release one Expansion Pack per year. Sure, they also offered multiple Game Packs and Stuff Packs throughout that period but The Sims 4 was definitely still missing on more in-depth gameplay that only Expansion Packs could provide.
The biggest change that’s also been made aware for the public is the fact that Graham Nardone, who worked as a Lead Producer on Stuff Packs for The Sims 4 switched positions and is currently working as a producer for The Sims 4 Expansion Packs. Ever since the big switch it’s noticeable that the production of Stuff Packs has slowed down. We are wrapping up this year with only 2 Stuff Packs that were released in the first quarter of this year and the rest of the 3 quarters had no Stuff Pack releases at all. This is a first for The Sims 4 and definitely a noticeable change in the dynamic of the upcoming content production.
The announcement of “Quarterly Teasers no longer making sense” for The Sims 4 tells a lot about the dynamic that The Sims Team plans to put out for The Sims 4. One of the main reasons why Quarterly Teasers were a thing is because they had Stuff Packs and Game Packs to reveal. There were absolutely no Expansion Pack revelations whatsoever in a Quarterly Teaser because The Sims Team always had plans to do a seperate teaser and announcement for them.
In 2018 we had two Expansion Pack announcements and releases. The Sims 4 Seasons and The Sims 4 Get Famous both brought a lot of content and gameplay that still to this day carry on and bring meaning to the general experience of The Sims 4. With these huge releases almost no one in the community was left wondering “What happened to Stuff Packs” considering that both of these packs brought more than enough content to satisfy the need for new items and gameplay. Seasons brought an interesting twist to holiday items and decor with both modern and rustic items that can be found in the build catalog while Get Famous focused more on two set of themes: Mid-Century and High-Rise Modern. With a huge catalog of items that these packs offered absolutely no one had the need to ask The Sims Team “Hey, what about those Stuff Packs?!”.
With the knowledge that Graham Nardone has switched things up and is now working on bigger packs for The Sims 4 and the fact that “Quarterly Teasers make no more sense” could we expect less packs and more bigger packs in the future?
We have no idea what the future holds for The Sims 4 but one thing is certain – we like the content twist that The Sims Team has done in 2018 and we hope that they keep it up for the next 3 years of content that they plan to release.
Hey, Jovan Jovic:
I just want to say thanks for all the great work you do sharing information about the Sims 4 and all things Sims 4. I have been a simmer since Sims 1 in 2000 and love the game. I still consider this the best PC/Mac game franchise on the market, and Sims 4 is quickly moving up to the level of Sims 2 in my view. Although, Sims 2 gave us the best fan sites for FREE custom content: Mod the Sims, Insimenator.net, and Sims Artist Union (SAU) come to mind along with Numenor.net and Gay Sims Club. They gave the best of the best in good moderating and free content. AND I gave them money–lots of it.
I have yet to find a great Free fan site for Sims 4 other than Mod the Sims, and was wondering if you have any suggestions. As a rule, I would rather donate to a great free site than enter into a pay-to-play transaction with another gamer who only delivers good content for money. I don’t blame them or dislike them, but even trusted creators who require a donation to access their best content cross a line of “exploitation of another’s labor” in my view.
That’s all I have to say in this post. I am going to write next about how I got Sims 2 to show proper 800 X 600 graphics on my new ASUS Predator PC. It was less complicated that one would imagine, but it was more a stroke of luck than skill. Still, I now have 2 playable #Sims games to enjoy. Let me know if any other fans still want to play Classic Sims 2.
Thanks again!
Michele Hansen, Washington State, USA
Hi Michelle!
Have you tried https://littlemssam.tumblr.com/
Her stuff is amazing!
Thanks for the suggestion, Jo! I will definitely check her stuff out. Now that I have S2 again, I will download the latest WinRAR and work on restoring my former collection. I have not played S4 with any CC as yet, but might start since I will need it for S2 content.
Happy simming!
Michele
Try looking around on tumblr, they have loads of accounts, although some have been wrongly flagged for nsfw content, and are going to be removed on December 17th :/
Correction: 2016 had 5 stuff packs! 🙂
Not gonna lie, the expansions we got this year are the best we’ve had at all. Hopefully next year, we get University and maybe something like FreeTime expansion from The Sims 2, which will further flesh out a sims hobbies and influence their conversations more, and new secret lots. More customization such as coming up with new recipes, Sims making their own indie titles, etc. I feel though University might get the gamepack treatment… So long as its fleshed out more, as they’ve done with the Vampires, I don’t mind.
The big stinkers were the stuff packs this year. What a heap of unnecessary garbage. At this point, cutting them out entirely may be the better option.
I entirely agree that stuff packs stink. Please tell them that no one cares for the unnecessary garbage, and that we’d rather wait through silence for functional objects and decent secrets, rather that being informed of trash development on a quarterly schedule.
Can we get someone to make a mod for slow dancing I hate at weddings and romantic date. Or put it in a new pack.
There is a mod out for slow dancing. It’s compatible with the November patch:
http://sims4studio.com/thread/7833/sacrificials-studio
Need to add new stairs like spiral stairs , pool tables that are playable ping pong tables …more fun items
Hi, Fireangel766! I totally agree. I have desperately missed spiral stairs in S4. And good multi-function gaming tables would be nice for certain.
I am quite happy with game progress of late. But University is a must have; it’s an entire life stage for our young adults. I just hope we can still have YAs after graduation rather than mandatory aging up after graduation like in S2.
Happy simming!
Michele
To be fair, Michele, in S2 young adult was a life stage that was created specifically for the University expansion pack, and therefore tied directly into University. Your sim was considered a “young adult” specifically while they were in college; once they graduated, they were an adult. (In S2 “adult” was used differently than it is now — it just meant “adult” in the classic, over-18 sense, instead of the “middle-aged” (complete with wrinkles and midlife crisis) meaning that it’s taken on in S3 and S4.) In fact, if a sim decided not to go to college at all, they skipped the young adult life stage entirely. I actually like that, because it let our kids go to college without worrying about that time spent finalizing their education counting against their adult lifespan. Starting with S3, young adult was just another life stage that everyone went through, just like child or elder or whatever, regardless of their education. (It helps that in S2 “University” was the very first ep, versus the 9th in S3.) As “young adult” is just another life stage in S4, and as we’re getting “University” so late in the game (we’ve had six eps and six gps so far), it would be very shocking and drastically shorten a sim’s lifespan if they tied the young adult life stage to University as they did in S2. If anything, they’ll make up another brand new life stage entirely (late teen?), although my money is definitely on them going the S3 route and just having University be one more thing your sim does in their life time that isn’t tied to any life stage at all. Besides, that lets our adults and elders get an extended education, too, just like they do in real life.
Sorry that that got so long! ^_^;;
I think that this year we actually got quite a lot; 2 ex packs, 1 g pack, 2 stuff packs, the massive terrain tools update, the sliding doors update, and the upcoming holiday update/addition although the stuff packs we got this year were probably the most useless ones and the expansion packs this year are probably the best ones we have (so far, cannot wait for university and a supernatural pack!!)
Yeah, they were right. They couldn’t keep up with the quarterly teasers because They would have nothing to show. And it turned out ok because it meant less “individual content” ( which we had to pay for) and that the expansion packs would bring more content. It hás been their mistake with the Sims 4 since the beggining, and that why it upset the community … They wanted to make money by seperated all the content in SP, GP and EP. it would never work… Not for us as costumers and not for them as business that need US to work.
The way the Sims 3 had its content released was the best! #killthosesmallpacks
I kind of miss stuff packs. They gave us a tiny little boost of content based on a theme that we could either take or leave as we wanted. With expansion packs, the core gameplay is altered; so even if you don’t like an aspect of that expansion pack you still feel like you should get the ep, anyway, because of the shift in the way the game works. (For example, don’t like the new holiday system? Too bad. Unless you want your sims’ weather to be sunny and boring every day, forever, without change, you’re stuck with it.) With stuff packs, they were a lot more take-it-or-leave-it. (Not into having your sim do too much outside? You can skip Perfect Patio GP, Romantic Garden GP, and Backyard GP without feeling like you’re missing out on anything at all.) I like that modular gameplay.
hey hey. every year I think the sims 4 always proves themselves in many different ways.