It has been a challenging few weeks for The Sims 4 team. Ever since the icon for the new game pack leaked, things have been a bit tetchy.
Even when the franchise celebrated its sixth birthday this week, players were left feeling frustrated and ignored. Another leak, for a new stuff pack this time, only added to Simmers, ahem, simmering frustrations.
We now know that the icon is for the new Sims 4 Star Wars: Journey to Batuu game pack, but this DLC has not gone down well with some players.
Many Simmers have been voicing their frustrations about several issues. But often, the discussions have unravelled into downright nasty attacks on members of The Sims 4 team.
There are some Sims 4 players who have remained courteous, despite not always agreeing with the way things pan out. One of the main sources of discontent is the lack of communication from the team.
A new blog post shared by the team this week has shed some light into what players can expect from the game. It was signed off as “SimGuru Lyndsay & the Sims Team”. It was a refreshingly honest and open update rather than the stony silence of the last few months.
The post starts by reiterating the team’s commitment to adding more diverse skin tones to the base game and improving the existing ones, too.
No bunk beds, cars or farms for The Sims 4 any time soon
The post also reveals that there is another expansion pack coming this year, as many Simmers expected. However, the post makes it clear that there will not be cars, babies, farms or bunk beds coming as part of the pack.
“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,” the post read.
Explaining how adding some of the most-requested features for The Sims 4 can be challenging, the post further explains:
“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.”
The post does not directly rule out the idea of these features forming part of the base game in the future, but it does make a point of making it clear that these additions will not form part of the next expansion pack for The Sims 4.
The post also vows that the team would make more of an effort to improve on communication, saying:
“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.”