Top Story
EA doesn’t think Switch owners would want The Sims
Few games can beat The Sims’ mass-market appeal. It’s a little everyday-life simulator, and the reason it has endured and kept its popularity is its simplicity and relatability. It’s also been successful on pretty much every platform – except Nintendo Switch! Since Switch has such a broad appeal, it seems like a natural home for the series.
So why hasn’t it happened yet? According to publisher EA, because people don’t actually want The Sims on Switch. In a recent earnings call, EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson was asked directly why The Sims 4, in particular, was not available on Switch. He replied that putting games on other platforms was down to that platform’s community, and whether a game like The Sims fits the Switch’s community.
It’s a living
Wilson specifically noted two questions EA asks: “does the game really fit the profile of that platform in terms of the control or the community ecosystem?” and “do we think the community playing on that platform would appreciate the game to go there?” EA believes that most Switch owners also own another platform, such as PC, Xbox One, and PS4, and would prefer to play The Sims 4 on them instead.
This line of thinking could explain EA’s lacklustre Switch support – they simply don’t believe that consumers would choose to buy EA’s games on the Switch, despite all the evidence of other publishers’ success stories on the platform suggesting they would. CD Projekt are bringing The Witcher 3 to Switch this year, despite the technical limitations and the fact that everyone’s played the game elsewhere – so they clearly think there’s a market.
It will be interesting to see if EA will connect the same dots – and get over the burn from the Wii U – and start supporting the Switch.
Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?
What was the last numbered Sims game to appear on a home Nintendo console?
- The Sims 1
- The Sims 2
- The Sims 3
- The Sims 4
The answer will be revealed at the end of this issue!
News Bits
LEGO Jurassic World finally arrives on Switch in September
LEGO Jurassic World was released on all platforms – including Wii U – in 2015, and will finally make an appearance on Switch too. All three DLC packs will be included, and like most Switch games, it will support handheld mode and be compatible with the new Switch Lite.
However, there’s a Brachiosaurus in the room: The sequel to Jurassic World – Fallen Kingdom – has been released since then, and will be rather notable by its absence when LEGO Jurassic World Switch arrives in September.
Apex Legends and Star Wars developer’s next game will be a FPS… in VR
Titanfall developer Respawn have a lot on their plates right now. Not only do they have Apex Legends to build and support, they’re also putting the finishing touches Jedi Fallen Order – the first epic single-player Star Wars game in nine years on – which should release this year. They’ve apparently got another game coming too, and it’s a first-person action game… for virtual reality headsets. Whatever it is, this “new AAA first-person combat title” for VR will be revealed at Oculus Connect in September. Will it be a new Titanfall? Time will tell…
Daily Fact
The first Elder Scrolls game featured all the other games put together
When starting The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you’re immediately struck by the size of the map – it’s gigantic, and you can spend hundreds of hours combing it and still not see everything the world has to offer. However, the first game in the Elder Scrolls series, The Elder Scrolls I: Arena, was much bigger – boasting a play area that not only dwarfed Skyrim, it contained it too. All of it, the entire region. And Oblivion. And Morrowind…
Yes, rather startlingly, Arena featured the entire continent of Tamriel – including Skyrim, Morrowind, and Oblivion’s setting of the central Imperial Province. And more! Apart from the second game Daggerfall, Elder Scrolls I: Arena is bigger than every Elder Scrolls game put together. It wasn’t quite as detailed, of course, and a lot of it was randomly generated. Still, impressive stuff – and Daggerfall was even bigger!