Game Industries: The Sims 4

Behind The Sims 4 is the huge game company Electronic Arts (EA). EA is a large video game publisher and developer. EA is known for its popular franchise The Sims series. The Sims 4 is the most recent instalment of the series and arguably the most popular. The game was released on Microsoft Windows in 2014 after several years of development and has a dedicated fanbase. 

This blog post will cover how EA identify its audience and tailors The Sims 4 to attract them. I will then explore how The Sims 4 was produced through pre-production, the production phase, and the post-production phase. Finally, I will cover four different possible job roles in the company and employment types in the company.

Target Audience

The target audience for EA's The Sims 4 is both dedicated and casual gamers that enjoy simulation-based and sand-box style gaming. A sandbox style is a game theme that involves minimal character limitations for the gamer so that the gamer has control over a virtual world at will. Historically, The Sims series has had a wide demographic from teens, to young adults, to older adults who are interested in creating and controlling virtual characters, relationships, homes, and lifestyles. 

The Sims 4 demographic is broad but the four main groups that can be identified are young adults, casual gamers, female players, and creative players. The Sims 4 is tailored to casual gamers as the game has an easy-to-use interface so that inexperienced gamers can learn and enjoy easily and become dedicated fans of The Sims series. The larger female player base could be attributed to The Sims 4 tailoring their content to include relationships, emotions, moods, feelings, and decision-making but the game also boasts a dedicated male player base. The game is tailored to the creative players but includes customisation, personalisation, and storytelling tools. These features allow players to have free reign over their character choices, and home styles and can create intricate relationships and family dynamics in order to pursue careers or aspirations. The Sims 4 hooks young adults in with its creative self-expression through creative outlets, exploration of identity through different Sims and lifestyles, and includes relatable life experiences.

Production

Pre-Production Phase

The pre-production phase takes place before production of The Sims 4 begins. There are multiple key processes and tasks that are needed to lay the groundwork for the development of the game. The team must begin by establishing the concept and design for the overall vision of The Sims 4 so that the core features and gameplay improvements can be made. Next, the team must make sure its vision of The Sims 4 aligns with the target audience. After the technical planning and the art direction, a prototype can be made so that the team can see their vision for The Sims 4 come to life for the first time. This will lead them into the production phase with the groundwork of the game and any improvements clearly laid out. 

Production Phase

The production phase is the actual creation of The Sims 4 after careful planning. The programmers and engineers will begin developing the game by writing code to build game systems based on the previous planning. Other designers partake in creating the environment of the game such as the neighbourhood, house lots, and public spaces to make it all functional and visually appealing. Artists will create the animation and visual assets of the game like graphics and textures following the art direction established in the pre-production phase. Lastly, the audio production will take place where sound designers and composes implement The Sims 4 audio elements including the iconic verbal language of the game 'Simlish'. Finally, once all these elements have been developed, a dedicated quality assurance team will conduct tight testing and bug fixing to make sure the game runs smoothly and is up to the high standard of EA productions. 

Post-Production Phase

The post-production phase comes after the production phase once The Sims 4 has been created and developed to the highest standard. This phase involves preparing the game for distribution by polishing it, advertising, and marketing it. After bug fixes and quality assurance, The Sims 4 goes through packaging and distribution. An important part of this phase is the marketing and promotion to prepare for the release of the game that has been years in the making. The marketing creates general awareness and excitement for the new instalment in The Sims series and involves the release of social media campaigns, trailers, and interviews to reach the target audience. The developers work in the phase of post-launch support to troubleshoot any issues consumers experience as well as develop expansion packs and downloadable content. All these phases make the development and launch of The Sims 4 stable and successful.

Roles and Employment

Job Roles

A UI/UX designer is a crucial job role in developing The Sims 4. This designer designs and uses interfaces, navigation systems, and menus to ensure a user-friendly player experience. This job role is important for keeping the high standard of gameplay The Sims 4 has and delivering a high standard of design to bring to life The Sims 4 that the company asks for.

A job as a programmer/software engineer develops the game's software systems, gameplay mechanics, and other technical aspects. This role needs to be filled by an experienced programmer/software engineer to ensure a high standard of game infrastructure and to bring to life the vision for The Sims 4.

A marketing specialist will develop marketing strategies to create promotional material, manage social media, and research how to outreach for the target audience for The Sims 4. The marketing specialist will use their knowledge of the market and perform research to build a large awareness and excitement for the game.

An important job for the company is the community manager. The community manager will engage with the player community to gather feedback and address concerns about the new game. It is useful for the community manager to maintain a positive relationship with players to create a trustworthy and respectable view of EA as a brand for communicating with its audience directly so that they feel seen and heard.

Employment Types

The majority of employment for EA would be full-time employment. As The Sims 4 took years to develop, everyone involved in the production and development will work full time to work on the project continuously until it is done. Many job roles such as designers will be picked especially for their incredible work and so it is crucial that they are on full-time employment so that the project can be seen through to the end by the same team that has the same vision. Part-time employment is also a good option for those that can work on the project for years to come but cannot commit to many hours a week. There is an opportunity for freelancers to be bought in to work on specific aspects of the project or to assist other job roles. Contract employment may be used in the company such as temporary contracts that may last 6 months at a time. For example, a programmer may only be employed in a temporary contract for the time they are needed to programme the game and will then leave the project after their part is completed.