Pretend you are the person who made the final decision of the Online or Offline Component of the Sims 4.

Your marketing representative is ready to announce the game for GamesCom 2013 in a few weeks time. However you realise that the reception of SimCity has been poor and are deciding whether to leave the game online and offline knowing that this decision will affect the whole game's production as a whole. Your original intention was for the game to have some sort of Multiplayer online components as well.

You can't rename, delay or cancel the game at this point in time.

What would you do?!

Would you make it online or offline?

Keep it online, and make sure my PR people made a thing about how this time they'd make absolutely sure to have enough servers at launch, and let people know there would be an offline mode "just like we added to SimCity" as well. Yes, neither online nor offline TS4 would have teens or below in it, so if there was a substantial enough market still waiting for the full game with toddlers etc, then they could have started on TS5 immediately after TS4 launch, which would have been March this year.

Offline, and get rid of the stupid 'one-time origin registration' bullshit. Completely offline with absolutely no requirement to ever connect to the internet to play the game, or a requirement to download origin.

There wasn't much of a choice after the SimCity catastrophe. If they had announced Sims 4 to be an always online title the reception would've been too much for them to handle.

Yeah, what Inge said. I'd keep it online, rush it out for as low a cost as possible, survive the poor sales, maybe spit in IGN's bucket for a good review or summin', and then get the hell to work on TS5.

I wouldn't even call it The Sims 4, but The Sims Online 2.

Then to tide the players over, I would make more EPs for TS3.

Yeah, this would have made perfect sense. I think there was definitely a market for people who wanted a better version of The Sims Online. Maybe not AS MUCH as TS4, but at least wit TSO2 people would have known what to expect and maybe even gotten it just for the heck of it. Meanwhile, they should have immediately set to work at a completely new TS4, and maybe even recycle a few of the good things from the hypothetical TSO2 for a head start.

If they hadn't announced TS4 to begin with, I don't think people would just be going crazy demanding it... Hype TSO2 and add some really kick-ass, worthwhile TS3 EPs, that probably really would have tided everyone over for a few more years...

Hey, OP said we aren't allowed to rename it! (I totally agree with you guys though)

Off-topic, DrChillgood I love your signature. The social code in TS3 is pretty.. uh, interesting.

The whole "no renaming" thing made it more challenging, and at the same time made me understand EA's slap-dash job much more.

Brilliant Question. I was shouting offline single player when the news first came out. But I had no idea that they would put out such a crippled game.
In hindsight, the best choice was online for those who want it, with a name change, something like "Sims Online Social"
Then as soon as they could, a proper offline game with all the features.

I called it wrong, and feel bad, because I think we created the Sims 4 problem.

I wonder if it's too late. Maybe they can make it online *optionally* in a patch/EP then get on with the next proper game.

I'm EA, right?
Definitely keep it offline.

We know the game will be more or less a failure, but it will sell enough to pay the bills. We know that lots of kids will get the game for Xmas, whether they asked for it or not.

If I get interviewed by some business magazine in 2015 I can just talk about how the community did not react as positively to the tons of new content that were designed, that the deep complexity of the all new emotion AI was maybe asking too much from the targeted age group. I will point out that the all new-tech in-game online plonkable DLC will be a nice cash cow for quarters to come.

If the game is online and it fails I have to answer why EA is not capable of creating working online games, I will be reminded of the SimCity disaster. I will be asked why the company is not able to cater this fast growing, best selling, "buzzwordiest of all" market segment. And by the way, we knew any middle aged sex offender could just log on, disguise as a teen (with an animal hat), and woohoo with teen players' self sims. We never expected the international media to react so negatively about this. Honestly

Online. They should have just stood by the game - if it was decent and they learned from previous mistakes it wouldn't have taken much to convince people prior to or post launch. I have always enjoyed the idea of an online version of The Sims where I can play alongside other players with ability to affect one another's stories. Of course, an offline component is always welcome.

Oh it'd still be bollocks alright, but at least they could just let that ship sink and get to work on the real Sims 2 sequel we're all asking for.

I clicked "agree"; if I could've added "+1000" I would've. The required Origin install and activation - even though I had planned to buy everything on disc - was the dealbreaker for me. The rest of the cuts have just been confirmation of my decision not to buy.

you know what, right now, they can do whatever tha hell they want.

They should continue the shit-streak and make it always online. That's the only thing that could possibly make it worse.