Say farewell to the days when you paid for the retail price of a game and you had access to everything it had to offer. That is a business plan of the past, something evidenced recently with EA’s surveys, surveys that tend to hint at a new model that will be used for the upcoming Sims 4. The Maxis developed and EA published Sims 4 game will likely come with a premium subscription of varying price, depending what exactly you opt for. Besides paying for the retail price of the game, you’ll have the option to choose from one of multiple paid service packages, which will grant you access to a varying amount of DLCs, skins, characters and additional content.
If you want the full package, you’ll be looking at around $100 in total costs, a package that will grant you access to the game as well as any additional content released within the first year. Prices may vary, and EA is currently doing extensive market research and analysis through surveys in order to determine just how much Sims 4 fans would be willing to pay. If you’ve been frowning at recent MMORPG releases that came with a monthly subscription on top of the game’s original price, you’ll be seeing a similar scenario here, minus the MMO part. Of course, EA won’t be forcing players to subscribe for premium packages (that are considerably steeper than recently used Season Pass packages on other games), but if you want access to everything, be ready to pull out your wallet.
EA and Maxis are already planning multiple DLCs for Sims 4, despite the game missing an official release date still. Based on this survey, players can expect between 12 and 16 DLCs for Sims 4, which is mind-blowing in itself, even compared to games such as Call of Duty: Ghosts, which are obvious cash-grabs. So far, we know 5 confirmed DLCs for Sims 4, including University, Magic School, Generations, Seasons and Time Travel. Getting access to a dozen DLCs would make the investment for a Premium Subscription seem reasonable, but then again, we’re wondering what happened to proper expansion packs of the old days, which bundled up hours of content into one single release? Thing about Throne of Bhaal for Baldur’s Gate 2 or or Bloodmoon for Bethesda’s Morrowind and just how many hours of quality entertainment those provided back in the day.
Regardless, if you’re a fan of Sims 4, you’re likely to be interested in the various additions to the core game, and could thus justify the hefty price. However, the feeling of Sims 4 being a huge cash-grab on EA’s part is somewhat unshakable. How do you feelĀ aboutĀ spending upwards of $100 for the complete Sims 4 experience?