The Sims Team has issued a letter talking about some of their future plans for The Sims 4, as well as how they plan to address community feedback.
In the letter, the team announced skin tone improvements by the end of this year, upcoming content expectations, new Expansion Pack announcement in a few weeks and better transparency plans. Check out the full letter below:
Hi Simmers –
We want you to know we’ve been seeing all your feedback and we hear you. 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. This is just as true for babies as it would be for cars, bunk beds or any other number of feature requests. 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. 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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. And I can assure you that we will continue to listen, continue to invest in The Sims 4 and continue to engage with you. We could not do what we do without our players.
SimGuru Lyndsay & the Sims Team
Beautiful letter. Sad that there has been so much trolling and bullying from this community that it was needed.
I completely agree. I can’t imagine what kind of privileged lives these angry Simmers must lead that they think everything is about them and what they want.
If you think people being annoyed about a pack that NO ONE WANTS is bullying, then you must have had one heck of a time in high school. I feel sorry for you.
It’s a lie that no one wants it. I want it. The name-calling the devs have to endure and the barrage of offences and straight-out lies are certainly cyberbulling. They are called lazy, greedy, incompetent, racist and so on. It’s also sad if you think people bullied in high school are reason for pity, not because they are bullieds, but because they are oversensitive.
EA is greedy and lazy. This pack is a joke because the amount of people that want it is extremely small to the amount that wanted so much more. I don’t think they’re racist though, but the rest definitely stands. And notice how I say EA and not the devs. The devs are just a tool that EA uses. The company is the problem. They don’t care about us or what we want ,and yes it IS about what WE want because it’s OUR money. Good for ya’ll wanting this garbage, but that’s exactly the problem. You only want it because EA has made us just accept it at this point because we love The Sims.
And you loved being slapped on the face and eating grass. Sorry. I thought we now could speak on behalf of people we don’t know. That is what you are doing, right? If you feel that is wrong, then stop doing it as well.
“And you loved being slapped on the face and eating grass. Sorry. I thought we now could speak on behalf of people we don’t know. That is what you are doing, right? If you feel that is wrong, then stop doing it as well.”
It wouldn’t let me reply to you down there, so I’ll just reply like this! Although, not really much to reply to because that’s not even an argument. I mean, you aren’t wrong though. That is my kink. But more on the point, someone should speak for the people that aren’t completely brainwashed by EA to accept trash. I’m just speaking to a wall at this point, though. Have a good day and do try to spend your money more wisely in the future. KISSES. <3
So, people with different wants and tastes than you are “brainwashed” and “accept trash”?
Oh wow, you aren’t a wall after all. Good job. You get it. Thumbs up. 2 stars. 😉
It is far saddening that we have been put in this situation in the first place.
It is a beautiful Letter indeed, although at this point it is just a pile of words and more promises they can forget.
Oh shit they just casually dropped that there is going to be an expansion. What about the stuff pack though?
They just came out with a stuff pack.
I think they mean the leak about a stuff pack that is going to come out in the future.
There’s always an EP released in November. This has been the pattern for a long time.
nice words and nothing more, they talks nice yet keeps ignoring and bringing lame content. no words but what they does matters. they sold fans love to the game for business trades they made. I have just 2 more things in mind I’d probably bought and nothing more. I will not sink more money on this game. in fact, I truly regret I bought it in the 1st place. I could just skip buying and have free base game only.
Bye.
“working on since last year” = actively ignoring everything the community has asked for, for the last year
couldn’t agree more <3
What a sad life you must lead that this is that big a deal for you.
“[…] 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.”
In other words: for the past year we have ignored the feedback and have NOT worked on what players want the most. But we get bonus PR points and a self-pat on the back for admitting that with a straight face.
But hey, we got Star Wars pew-pew, right? *sigh*
you wrote my comment for me
Cool, looking forward what in next EP. Keep it up, slow and steady with each expand better than overengineering try to build entire things that will almost never finish.
Them acknowledging cars, babies, farms and bunk beds is a good thing in my opinion. Hopefully it means that all those ideas will be tackled before TS5.
Just words, doesn’t mean a thing if they keep ignoring what the players want. How can there be such major technical issues in a game released in 2014???
I’m glad they openly acknowledged what fans are constantly requesting from the team. There’s *plenty* wrong with 4 (and things needing to fixing) but hopefully they’ll have a few more years to fix things before 5’s announced and released?
I can’t imagine the company apologizing for business decisions when EA owns the SW rights/probably pushed for the pack to keep their license with Di$ney on good terms, so yeah :/
Height adjuster would be great, perhaps new walk styles, and even at some point Accents. I’d love to hear how a Sims sounds when using like a Russian or Jamaican accent. But yeah you guys have a lot more to do before a Sims5 is even considered, keep up the good work.
Fed up with waiting for the important stuff like cars!! It was done in TS3 so they should be able to have done it by now!! They are just milking The Sims 4 for everything they can get now. With that I am finally out! I won’t be getting anything more for this game until The Sims 5 comes out. Even then it will have to have certain things right from the base game, including: Cars, all ages ranges, memories, TS3 style CAS features and the colour wheel!
Thank you for all you do. I look forward to seeing what else you have in mind for the game.
You do wolf pack sims 4
I appreciate all the hard work they’re putting into sims. People in the community are a lot toxic lately. They don’t deserve all the hate. They are working hard on this game.
100% agree with this. I’m so sick of seeing everyone’s whiny comments every time something is announced. Like just don’t buy it! It’s just a game!
The constantly complaining got old a LONG time ago for me. I’m starting to think it’s all petulant teenagers that have had everything handed to them and can’t bear the thought of not getting EXACTLY what THEY want.
Right? How dare people be angry that they’ve paid over $1,000 for a game that can’t implement simple things we’ve asked for from the base game, that has been implemented in the past with ease! In case that’s hard to understand, that was sarcasm for you. It’s not about the fact people are still buying it when they could just stop if they hate it so much. It’s about the fact that people do love it, but are just so fucking tired of being ignored for shit like this new pack. There is literally a poll showing you that Star Wars was dead last, and yet here we have Star Wars. So sorry you think people are immature for being angry about investing in something for so long, and still not getting something as simple as moving babies. Something that they’ve proven to be able to do in the past. How about you all take a moment to really listen to the complaints instead of writing everyone off as entitled crybabies because they don’t have the same opinion as you. They just have higher standards, I guess.
Yes Penny, thank you! Say it again louder for the people in the back!
So… I’ve paid for ALL of the content thus far… In Australian dollars and price points…
Base game: $89.95 (when it first came out)
Expansion Packs x 9: $49.95 = $449.55
Game Packs x 8: $29.95 = $239.60
Stuff Packs x 17: $14.95 = $254.15
Total: $1033.25
I was 36 when Sims4 came out. Not a petulant child. A grown woman who has the right to assess the quality of the stuff she pays for and certainly old enough to recognise that said quality is found wanting.
As a player who has invested over $1000, I expect better of EA and the Sims team.
What I expect:
*Proper representation across ALL of the community – people of colour, LGBTQ, and differently-abled people specifically rather than just the virtue signalling of flags in some B&B, a token trans person, and really bad skin tones.
*Relationship overhaul
*Teens that look like teens, adults that look like adults
*A complete cease and desist of recycling of all old animations and CAS/Build content
* We STILL cannot share apartments properly on the Gallery
And that’s just a handful of things that need attention.
Frankly, the fact that the wider community is happier that the windows placement issue has been fixed rather than the craptastic Batuu gamepack being released is telling enough.
I’ve played $5-$20 indie games that have more engagement and replay value!
In all honesty, I still play the sims because I love custom content. Without that I would have given up years ago already. But don’t go telling people that they can’t have an opinion and be upset about the quality of a game that they’ve invested a load of money and time into.
*claps* Finally, another person in this thread with common sense.
I would say this basically confirms that they have plans to bring in babies and cars and potentially farming in the future otherwise why mention it.
I think people dont realise how long these things take and tbh the amount of hate they have got recently, dont blame them for wanting to take more time to ask the community what they expect and to do it properly – I feel another survey or two coming.
Wonder what the new expansion will be? Im intrigued.. I do think it needs to be something less out there though. Eco Lifestyle and Star Wars have been very controversial
They mention it because people keep bringing it up. It’s not something they’ve looked at doing, it’s not likely to be something that they will look at doing any time in the future at this stage.
I mean… they’ve had six years to address these very simple issues…
What next expansion pack ? Back to the future?
Disappointed. Won’t be buying anymore sims 4 …. I’m tired of not be giving what we ask for … you have a team of developers hoe hard could it be if cc creator can give it to us. This game is nothing without mods and cc and that’s just a fact.
Cars would have limited use. I can’t get why people want them so bad when sims 4 will never be open world. Im a car person but it will have very little uses
Just words. They know what we want but they don’t do it. This is just annoying at this point. Don’t write us a letter…just fix ya game.
I can’t believe people still think cars would work in this game. They wouldn’t have any real use in the game considering it’s not open world like Sims 3, and would be VERY limited.
The bikes are really as far as they need to go. Adding in skate parks or the ability to perform tricks with bikes (and skateboards if that ever became a reality) would be amazing.
As for the developers, I still think they’re doing a fine job. They did a lot better in earlier packs, but recently, some of the packs were a let down (knitting stuff was a joke IMO). Either way, I’m still enjoying the game and I won’t be pessimistic about upcoming packs. Keep up the good, devs! Just listen to the community a bit more and consider what the fans would want and what is possible in the game and we’ll hopefully see some pretty good stuff come out in the future.
Lets just hope no sims 5 ? The sims 4 is amazing they have to do so much moree
please fix the fact that the cc doors and windows broke with the new update. I will not play without my cc’s and i am pretty sure that i am not the only one.
Custom Content is not the responsibility of EA. With the new patch, it means that the coding is now different. It’s up to the CC creators to update their work. Sims4Studio will probably also be working on a batch fix you can run your CC through to fix the issue soon as well.
The sims are made by EA company. EA makes a lot of games. But the sims commcommunity should tell EA what the players want. Adding Harry Potter and Star Wars is a waste of my time and money and anything related to Disney enless we can build our own Disney theme parks. But I’m not wasting my time or money on this game anymore. Not until EA gives the players what we want. The Sims are suppose to be a real life game you control. Adding Disney stuff is becoming more of a game for kids that are 8 to 12 years old. I’m not playing until EA does things right by us. By adding the stuff we the players want. It would be cool to add malt shop, cruise ships, cars, trucks, motorcycles. It would be nice to make your sims to try to teach a child to ride a bike. It would be nice to own sports stadiums. Winter lodges with ski slops and other stuff. Tattoo parlor would be good to own. Race tracks. How about retro stuff. No EA isn’t going to allowed that. When they added the washing machine they should of allowed us to build a laudry matt. Lets build our own circus. Sims teams take everyone vomments to EA and tell EA these are things the players want to see. Cause I’m not spending$30.00 to $40.00 on anymore or anything on this game at all. We got mics, piano, guitar, violins, organs, and keyboard. No drums and no bass guitar. No way of making a rock and roll band. No movie theater. The sims lots are not big enough to start a movie making company. You can’t replace fencing on a round porch. No beauty salons
No pet grooming shops. No groceries stores. But hey lets do Harry Potter and Star Wars. I’ve got to laugh at EA it’s not worth it. Read the comments give us what we want let the makers of the sims hear what the sims players want. I would love seeing purses, sewing machines, hair down to my sims back. Away to adjust the bust and butts on the sims. I would more sayings for sims to talk to each other. More hair styles for guys even Zz Tops look you know long hair and beards. Let sims drink beer, mud sludes drinks. Other types of alcohol drinks from moon shine to wines and more mix drinks. I’m burnt on sims. Sims 3 gave us a money tree. Heck where are the plants to grow. I’ve built a club for dancing and no one dances in it. It’s time to take this game back to the world and ways of life and lay off the Disney junk. EA wake up you’re gonna lose money if you don’t give true simmers what we want.
I’m still furious that Star Wars is a higher priority than expanded skin tones. I get that you have to be intentional with implementation but you guys have poured a ton of labor into creating content that isn’t relevant to your core playerbase. Is it because EA owns the property? This letter doesn’t address the Star Wars pack explicitly so it falls short.
The Sims development team and EA overall is basically a racist plantation where white employees are given special treatment where they don’t even have to be on a project to get credit and bonuses. The current so-called Franchise Art Director is a fraud who inflated his resume and is known as the ‘asshole from 2K’, although the EA CEO is aware of this, nothing is done despite repeated complaints, instead, EA retaliated against anyone who spoke out. The SIms art leadership practices tokenism and routinely attack and sideline minority Artists and because they want to replace it with a 100% white art leadership. Basically these white art directors are so underqualified you wonder how the helll they even got the jobs, then you realize that it’s their skin color. A class action is coming.
I can’t believe people still think cars would work in this game. They wouldn’t have any real use in the game considering it’s not open world like Sims 3, and would be VERY limited.
The bikes are really as far as they need to go. Adding in skate parks or the ability to perform tricks with bikes (and skateboards if that ever became a reality) would be amazing.
As for the developers, I still think they’re doing a fine job. They did a lot better in earlier packs, but recently, some of the packs were a let down (knitting stuff was a joke IMO). Either way, I’m still enjoying the game and I won’t be pessimistic about upcoming packs. Keep up the good, devs! Just listen to the community a bit more and consider what the fans would want and what is possible in the game and we’ll hopefully see some pretty good stuff come out in the future.
I appreciate all the hard work they’re putting into sims. People in the community are a lot toxic lately. They don’t deserve all the hate. They are working hard on this game.
100% agree with this. I’m so sick of seeing everyone’s whiny comments every time something is announced. Like just don’t buy it! It’s just a game!
please fix the fact that the cc doors and windows broke with the new update. I will not play without my cc’s and i am pretty sure that i am not the only one.
Custom Content is not the responsibility of EA. With the new patch, it means that the coding is now different. It’s up to the CC creators to update their work. Sims4Studio will probably also be working on a batch fix you can run your CC through to fix the issue soon as well.
Lets just hope no sims 5 ? The sims 4 is amazing they have to do so much moree
Cars would have limited use. I can’t get why people want them so bad when sims 4 will never be open world. Im a car person but it will have very little uses
Just words. They know what we want but they don’t do it. This is just annoying at this point. Don’t write us a letter…just fix ya game.
Disappointed. Won’t be buying anymore sims 4 …. I’m tired of not be giving what we ask for … you have a team of developers hoe hard could it be if cc creator can give it to us. This game is nothing without mods and cc and that’s just a fact.
I would say this basically confirms that they have plans to bring in babies and cars and potentially farming in the future otherwise why mention it.
I think people dont realise how long these things take and tbh the amount of hate they have got recently, dont blame them for wanting to take more time to ask the community what they expect and to do it properly – I feel another survey or two coming.
Wonder what the new expansion will be? Im intrigued.. I do think it needs to be something less out there though. Eco Lifestyle and Star Wars have been very controversial
They mention it because people keep bringing it up. It’s not something they’ve looked at doing, it’s not likely to be something that they will look at doing any time in the future at this stage.
I mean… they’ve had six years to address these very simple issues…
Height adjuster would be great, perhaps new walk styles, and even at some point Accents. I’d love to hear how a Sims sounds when using like a Russian or Jamaican accent. But yeah you guys have a lot more to do before a Sims5 is even considered, keep up the good work.
Thank you for all you do. I look forward to seeing what else you have in mind for the game.
You do wolf pack sims 4
Fed up with waiting for the important stuff like cars!! It was done in TS3 so they should be able to have done it by now!! They are just milking The Sims 4 for everything they can get now. With that I am finally out! I won’t be getting anything more for this game until The Sims 5 comes out. Even then it will have to have certain things right from the base game, including: Cars, all ages ranges, memories, TS3 style CAS features and the colour wheel!
What next expansion pack ? Back to the future?
Beautiful letter. Sad that there has been so much trolling and bullying from this community that it was needed.
It is far saddening that we have been put in this situation in the first place.
It is a beautiful Letter indeed, although at this point it is just a pile of words and more promises they can forget.
If you think people being annoyed about a pack that NO ONE WANTS is bullying, then you must have had one heck of a time in high school. I feel sorry for you.
It’s a lie that no one wants it. I want it. The name-calling the devs have to endure and the barrage of offences and straight-out lies are certainly cyberbulling. They are called lazy, greedy, incompetent, racist and so on. It’s also sad if you think people bullied in high school are reason for pity, not because they are bullieds, but because they are oversensitive.
EA is greedy and lazy. This pack is a joke because the amount of people that want it is extremely small to the amount that wanted so much more. I don’t think they’re racist though, but the rest definitely stands. And notice how I say EA and not the devs. The devs are just a tool that EA uses. The company is the problem. They don’t care about us or what we want ,and yes it IS about what WE want because it’s OUR money. Good for ya’ll wanting this garbage, but that’s exactly the problem. You only want it because EA has made us just accept it at this point because we love The Sims.
And you loved being slapped on the face and eating grass. Sorry. I thought we now could speak on behalf of people we don’t know. That is what you are doing, right? If you feel that is wrong, then stop doing it as well.
“And you loved being slapped on the face and eating grass. Sorry. I thought we now could speak on behalf of people we don’t know. That is what you are doing, right? If you feel that is wrong, then stop doing it as well.”
It wouldn’t let me reply to you down there, so I’ll just reply like this! Although, not really much to reply to because that’s not even an argument. I mean, you aren’t wrong though. That is my kink. But more on the point, someone should speak for the people that aren’t completely brainwashed by EA to accept trash. I’m just speaking to a wall at this point, though. Have a good day and do try to spend your money more wisely in the future. KISSES. <3
So, people with different wants and tastes than you are “brainwashed” and “accept trash”?
Oh wow, you aren’t a wall after all. Good job. You get it. Thumbs up. 2 stars. 😉
Oh shit they just casually dropped that there is going to be an expansion. What about the stuff pack though?
There’s always an EP released in November. This has been the pattern for a long time.
They just came out with a stuff pack.
I think they mean the leak about a stuff pack that is going to come out in the future.
nice words and nothing more, they talks nice yet keeps ignoring and bringing lame content. no words but what they does matters. they sold fans love to the game for business trades they made. I have just 2 more things in mind I’d probably bought and nothing more. I will not sink more money on this game. in fact, I truly regret I bought it in the 1st place. I could just skip buying and have free base game only.
couldn’t agree more <3
Bye.
“working on since last year” = actively ignoring everything the community has asked for, for the last year
The sims are made by EA company. EA makes a lot of games. But the sims commcommunity should tell EA what the players want. Adding Harry Potter and Star Wars is a waste of my time and money and anything related to Disney enless we can build our own Disney theme parks. But I’m not wasting my time or money on this game anymore. Not until EA gives the players what we want. The Sims are suppose to be a real life game you control. Adding Disney stuff is becoming more of a game for kids that are 8 to 12 years old. I’m not playing until EA does things right by us. By adding the stuff we the players want. It would be cool to add malt shop, cruise ships, cars, trucks, motorcycles. It would be nice to make your sims to try to teach a child to ride a bike. It would be nice to own sports stadiums. Winter lodges with ski slops and other stuff. Tattoo parlor would be good to own. Race tracks. How about retro stuff. No EA isn’t going to allowed that. When they added the washing machine they should of allowed us to build a laudry matt. Lets build our own circus. Sims teams take everyone vomments to EA and tell EA these are things the players want to see. Cause I’m not spending$30.00 to $40.00 on anymore or anything on this game at all. We got mics, piano, guitar, violins, organs, and keyboard. No drums and no bass guitar. No way of making a rock and roll band. No movie theater. The sims lots are not big enough to start a movie making company. You can’t replace fencing on a round porch. No beauty salons
No pet grooming shops. No groceries stores. But hey lets do Harry Potter and Star Wars. I’ve got to laugh at EA it’s not worth it. Read the comments give us what we want let the makers of the sims hear what the sims players want. I would love seeing purses, sewing machines, hair down to my sims back. Away to adjust the bust and butts on the sims. I would more sayings for sims to talk to each other. More hair styles for guys even Zz Tops look you know long hair and beards. Let sims drink beer, mud sludes drinks. Other types of alcohol drinks from moon shine to wines and more mix drinks. I’m burnt on sims. Sims 3 gave us a money tree. Heck where are the plants to grow. I’ve built a club for dancing and no one dances in it. It’s time to take this game back to the world and ways of life and lay off the Disney junk. EA wake up you’re gonna lose money if you don’t give true simmers what we want.
The Sims development team and EA overall is basically a racist plantation where white employees are given special treatment where they don’t even have to be on a project to get credit and bonuses. The current so-called Franchise Art Director is a fraud who inflated his resume and is known as the ‘asshole from 2K’, although the EA CEO is aware of this, nothing is done despite repeated complaints, instead, EA retaliated against anyone who spoke out. The SIms art leadership practices tokenism and routinely attack and sideline minority Artists and because they want to replace it with a 100% white art leadership. Basically these white art directors are so underqualified you wonder how the helll they even got the jobs, then you realize that it’s their skin color. A class action is coming.
I’m still furious that Star Wars is a higher priority than expanded skin tones. I get that you have to be intentional with implementation but you guys have poured a ton of labor into creating content that isn’t relevant to your core playerbase. Is it because EA owns the property? This letter doesn’t address the Star Wars pack explicitly so it falls short.
Just words, doesn’t mean a thing if they keep ignoring what the players want. How can there be such major technical issues in a game released in 2014???
Cool, looking forward what in next EP. Keep it up, slow and steady with each expand better than overengineering try to build entire things that will almost never finish.
I’m glad they openly acknowledged what fans are constantly requesting from the team. There’s *plenty* wrong with 4 (and things needing to fixing) but hopefully they’ll have a few more years to fix things before 5’s announced and released?
I can’t imagine the company apologizing for business decisions when EA owns the SW rights/probably pushed for the pack to keep their license with Di$ney on good terms, so yeah :/
“[…] 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.”
In other words: for the past year we have ignored the feedback and have NOT worked on what players want the most. But we get bonus PR points and a self-pat on the back for admitting that with a straight face.
But hey, we got Star Wars pew-pew, right? *sigh*
you wrote my comment for me
Them acknowledging cars, babies, farms and bunk beds is a good thing in my opinion. Hopefully it means that all those ideas will be tackled before TS5.