Ever since The Sims team put an end to quarterly teasers last July, players have been disappointed with how marketing has promoted upcoming content. Today, SimGuruKate took to Twitter to clarify why Maxis put an end to quarterly teasers for The Sims 4, and what they plan to do with content teasers and announcements moving forward.
Hey SimFam! Recently I've seen a number of folks mentioning how much they miss Quarterly Teasers. I thought it would be good idea to provide a bit of insight into the reasoning behind bringing them to an end.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 1, 2019
First I want to start by saying that I really enjoyed Quarterly Teasers. As a huge fan of The Sims these teasers were so fun and I loved trying to figure out exactly what we would be getting in the coming months based on the teasers.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 1, 2019
Now, you may remember when we announced the end of Quarterly Teasers in July last year, we mentioned that the primary reason for this was us switching up how we do content releases. You may also remember that Quarterly Teasers only showed off upcoming paid content.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 1, 2019
Since July we have only released one piece of paid content, Get Famous. This means there was an entire quarter without any paid content (EP/GP/SP), thus there was nothing for a Quarterly Teaser. Quarterly Teasers made sense when we have at least one pack releasing each quarter.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 1, 2019
Now you may ask, if you don't have paid content, can't you show upcoming free content for that quarter? Friendly reminder, when they existed Quarterly Teasers never showed free content. The reason for this is two fold.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 1, 2019
We (EA) have some strict guidelines around how and when we can reveal free content. Additionally, free content plans can sometimes change very quickly. What may be on the road-map at the beginning of a quarter can change halfway through for a variety of reasons.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 1, 2019
If we were to announce a particular piece of free content and then not release it within that quarter, this could have repercussions and put our Marketing and Dev Teams in difficult positions. Unfortunately this means that we can not show free content coming until the month of.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 1, 2019
All of this means that with our current content road-map and content plans (free and paid), Quarterly Teasers don't make sense. I also want to point out that Maxis Monthly wasn't supposed to replace Quarterly Teasers, but rather be a new way for us to communicate with you.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 1, 2019
I've seen a ton of feedback on how we can improve the Maxis Monthly and make it have more value for you. I am working on some plans for our upcoming Maxis Monthly streams that will address and incorporate some of you feedback.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 1, 2019
I am also working on some additional ideas and plans on how we can better communicate and engage with the community, including providing updates on more channels than Twitter, monthly Dev Q&As, and more. We will be rolling out a lot of this in the coming months, so stay tuned!
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 1, 2019
This is a great question. While I would love to announce new packs on Maxis Monthly, in partnership with some of the other parts of our Marketing team it was decided that new packs are to be announced via our trailers on YouTube and blogs, which we share on our social channels. https://t.co/afI8kk04Xa
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 1, 2019
One of the main reasons for this is that we have the resources to localize our trailers and blogs into many different languages meaning even non-English speakers can enjoy them and be part of the announcement. We aren't able to do this with our live streams.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 1, 2019
It does conflict with Marketing which is why we don’t do this right now. It can also lead to unnecessary speculation. Right now we’ve made the decision as a team to only reveal packs when we are ready to announce an official release date.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 2, 2019
The thing is we’ve repeatedly said we are always working on new content, paid and free. Just because we don’t share it doesn’t mean something isn’t or coming that month/quarter,/year. It just means we can’t share yet. And yes there will be some months w/o paid content.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 2, 2019
The team really loves developing SPs and GPs as well. The idea of making a new SP or GP is not off the table. https://t.co/YhYHCpIEQU
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 2, 2019
No. It means the team is constantly changing up how and what kind of content they will be creating. We’ve said multiple times there are still multiple years of content left for TS4.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 2, 2019
Yes I think I misspoke here and some of them may have included some free content. Apologies for the incorrect statement. That being said we aren’t able to include free content in quarterly teasers because of the way our Game and Video Development processes currently work. https://t.co/eNshI1k0vm
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 2, 2019
Our processes have changed since QTs were first developed, which is normal as we are always trying to improve how we create content (both game and marketing content).
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 2, 2019
We all agree and will be working on improving our entire setup in the next few months. It’s taking time because it’s just me and @SimGuruSteve. I’ll fully admit I’m not a pro at streaming and I’m still learning, and Steve has his actual job responsibilities. https://t.co/bGTVaY4rzV
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 2, 2019
I think there might be some confusion. I didn’t say we wouldn’t be announcing content in advance of its release. I mentioned when it came to paid content we don’t announce until we are also able to share a release date for that content.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 2, 2019
For free content we will continue to share on streams once its reached a certain point in development.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) February 2, 2019
