New Insider Info: AI Usage In The Sims Project X And Internal Sentiment Post-Buyout

Author's Note:
This story has been updated with new information. Scroll down for the latest additions.

Question:
So if project X has just started the development, we're going to be waiting a long time for any 100% official information from Maxis I guess ?
In my opinion, Maxis don't want to make the same mistake like rene, announcing it too early.

Insider:
My understanding from what has been told to me is that development will be fairly fast now that what they want it to be has been decided.
But I do know that there's quite a lot of tension because of multiple reasons, buyout aside.

They're currently not being forced to use AI on the Sims 4, but as the Sims 4 is being used in many ways as the baseline resource for X, it means they can develop quality of life improvements to the Sims 4 without having to officially consider it as part of X's development which is being closely watched.

So there's pros and cons to the development process, but Maxis are fairly happy they can retrospectively improve the Sims 4 in the process of building X.
The staff working on the Sims 4 are in a much happier place than those working on X.

Question:
Care to give us an insight on how Maxis developers are feeling after the buyout approval?

Insider:
I can't imagine anyone at Maxis wants any of it. Aside from new ownership, the main thing that frustrates them is everything is being pushed to make the most money possible, and many ideas get rejected and pushed back if they don't lean into monetisation.

Statement:
Yeah, exactly. They already tried this with The Sims 4, releasing a Stuff Pack (My First Pet Stuff), and that was a huge flop.
According to @gloamingtheplain EA wants to make pets free for Project X, so they can monetize pet cosmetics instead. The idea would be that people might think, "Well, since the pets are free, I don't mind buying individual outfits for my cat on the Marketplace.'' (it just a exemple) [Sic]

Insider:
My First Pet Stuff wasn't a flop. It had online backlash but it definitely was a big seller. The lesson they learnt from that is people do want Stuff Packs or Kits that don't reuse items that are just limited to the same base game items. But there needs to be time.
Many later Stuff Packs and Kits included items from DLCs reworked or items designed for specific DLC situations, and backlash was minimal.

Insider:
The new format would also allow them to make more Expansions (although they're rethinking the tradition framework to X to be potentially a subscription situation or something similar, who knows) but they'd be more similar to Royalty & Legacy over something like Adventure Awaits that had an extremely large animation budget over other content. Also the chances of an Expansion or major DLC going over budget like Adventure Awaits did will probably never happen again under EA's new ruling.

Things like the Custom Venue features and the Elimination and similar scenarios that were added last minute based on feedback that Getaways could only be run on Residential and Rental lots, despite the pack being already over budget, would absolutely not fly now. To be fair, it didn't really fly then either but as it was originally the last Expansion Pack for the Sims 4, Maxis wanted to take the risk and give as much as they could from all the ideas they'd been wanting to get in the game before what they considered an intermission of The Sims 4 as they weren't sure 100% how X was going to work.

Adventure Awaits tried to get as many gameplay items as they could in, and the developers were really excited to go through lists and lists of all the things players had been asking for over the years. Bookmarked tweets, forum posts and more were used. The pack is a little all over the place, but they really tried.

I don't know much about Royalty's development outside the new framework, as that team is a little disconnected from people I talk to from Maxis.

Question:
you said development should be fairly fast now that they've decided what they want it to be. What did they actually end up deciding on? We know they were considering different options, like a remaster, remake, HD version, sequel, or something else entirely. Is there anything you can share about which direction they ultimately chose?

Insider:
There's a limit of how specific I get before it becomes a legal issue, but what I can say is;
Many franchises are actively being reviewed right now for projects in development, now that the buyout has come through. Both Rene and X are being throughly reviewed and they're being assessed for financial guarantees. Everything's on the board to be cancelled, or reworked or greenlit. EA will not put any money into anything they don't think will see a huge financial return. This is for all EA projects right now, not just Maxis or The Sims.

So in any case, you may not even see Rene or X come to light depending on what they decide. I doubt you won't, but just letting you know where things are at EA right now. Everything's effectively got to be re-greenlit and there may be changes to greenlight it again.
The same goes for Mass Effect and other franchises.