The Sims 4 life-and-death ad controversy explained

One of the most exciting aspects The Sims 4 is a consistent rollout of DLC for the game. With at least one main pack released every season, Simmers are constantly getting new content to expand their game. However, players were very unhappy with how The Sims 4 presents its latest expansion pack.

The Sims 4The 'Life & Death' expansion pack promises to give players all new ways to experiment with one of the game's scariest features – death. Descriptions for the expansion pack confirmed that Simmers can experience a new career as grim women, build cemeteries, hold funerals, and more when purchased. Many fans were excited about the package, proving that the content of Life and Death is not what Simmers was struggling with. Rather, The Sims 4 constantly inundates players with advertising for a new expansion pack.

EA's controversial advertising strategy for The Sims 4: Life and Death

The Sims 4's Macabre Mementos have Proven Madness

Over the past few years The Sims 4 promotes new DLC, especially for larger content such as expansion packs, by offering limited-time exclusive items to players who purchase the new pack before a certain date. For Life & Death, players who pre-order or purchase the pack before December 12th will receive the “Macabre Mementos” collection, including the Lasting Legacy Family Portrait, Mournful Melodies music box, and the Elegance Plumed mask.

Again, the controversy isn't about players who aren't happy with exclusive items The Sims 4 the team offers them. Instead, the culprit is a pop-up ad for exclusive items that appears when you launch the game. The reward ad is present in the main menu of the game, so the additional pop-up ad is redundant. The Sims 4 has previously faced backlash from fans when he added a button to the game's user interface that led to the purchase of DLC. Macabre Mementos' strong push has made some Simmers reconsider whether to buy Life & Death at all, even though it might affect gameplay, proving that this heavy-handed style of advertising is still controversial within the game. The Sims commonwealth.

Previous free rewards in The Sims 4

Now that The Sims 4 is available to players for free, it makes sense that Maxis and EA are constantly encouraging players to purchase DLC content. Of course, that doesn't change the frustration that Simmers has, but it's a logical explanation.

Maxis has also incorporated new free-to-play quests for The Sims 4. “Happy Home” Sims 4 the reward program was a time-limited task that started in June. Players who logged in enough times during the four weeks could earn eight free and unique rewards, including a Bullseye dartboard, sportswear, and a workout that makes the perfect trait.

Since new features are usually only included in the game's DLC, and new free furniture and Create-A-Sim items for The Sims 4 they are usually only available when The Sims developers update pre-existing items in the base game, this limited time login event was a great opportunity for Simmers. Still, many players missed out on the Happy at Home rewards program despite the massive promotional images and links The Sims 4 main page during and before the event.

This could be another explanation for the mass promotion of Macabre Mementos. Life & Death was advertised as an essential expansion pack in the same vein as Seasons or Cats and Dogs. These kinds of expansion packs not only build on already existing gameplay aspects, but change the way Simmers play The Sims 4 completely. Since many Simmers plan to purchase the pack, The Sims the team may be pressuring them to buy the pack early so they don't miss out on exclusive “free” items.

Some Simmers aren't so optimistic about the motives behind these ads. EA announced in May that it was considering implementing more ads into its AAA titles, including The Sims 4. These ads would be inside the game itself, unlike the controversial shop button.

Those who want to buy The Sims 4You can pre-order the latest expansion pack now or wait for the Halloween DLC release. Either way, they'll get the Macabre Mementos that Maxis and EA seem so eager to give away.