EA Won't Make Sims 5 if Sims 4 Isn't a Hit

I like writing about EA.  Mostly because I use the first paragraphs in most articles as miniature opinion pieces to elaborate on my feelings for the thing we’ll be discussing proper and my opinion on EA is constantly shifting and evolving so I get to write something new each time.   EA is probably the only gaming company I would really like to like, but can’t really bring myself to do it.  They have a conscious, but they rarely act on it, and they have good intentions but their memoires are bad and there’s some serious miscommunication between some of their executives.  They have the potential to be one of those extremely rare "giant yet good” companies, and every so often you see that potential shine through.

Despite their efforts (or due to their efforts, regularly) EA has been a contender in the Worst Company in America public poll for several years running, and even won the ‘prestigious’ title more than once.  Fortunately for them this year, it was impossible to say they were worse than cable companies like Time Warner Cable pushing to end Net Neutrality, and EA has publicly stated it’s not going to miss the title—it’s new CEO saying...

"I hope we never appear on that [worst companies in America] list again, I truly do.”

Of course, it’s one step forward two steps back for ol’ EA, and sadly for the world they ain’t Moonwalking.  Not a weekend passed after they expressed relief for avoiding the Worst Company in America title did an employee working for the company reveal through a post on the Sims forum that they weren’t going to even think about making a Sims 5 if Sims 4 didn’t do well.

Now that’s a tricky proposition.  The Sims has been one of EA’s most reliable titles for years now, and you could always count on a new Sims game (and expansions for the old one) to be in the works somewhere in the EA monolith.  But to say there will be no Sims 5 unless Sims 4 does well is certainly a dangerous thing to say, especially considering how dissatisfied most gamers were with the Sims 4 vanilla launch—where dozens of once-standard features like Swimming Pools and Toddlers were withheld, presumably to be released as DLC at a later date.

That said, I don’t think it’s very likely Sims 4 won’t be popular—it’s a hit in the casual market and it’s got a lot of name recognition—but the fact that EA is technically holding the sequel over our heads is certainly discouraging.