EA-Land, the service previously known as The Sims Online will shut August 1, despite a much hyped revamp announced late February.
The Sims Online was generally regarded to be a failure for EA, with the company unable to turn the success of The Sims franchise into an online hit. The service wasn’t helped by a complete lack of customizable features (outside of the usual Sims customization tools) and EA charged for access.
The new (but now never to be launched) EA-Land was to be EA’s second shot of success, and promised Second Life style customization and land ownership, with a free client and free to use service.
EA didn’t provide a full explanation for the shutdown, only saying that “The lifetime of the game has drawn to an end, and now we will be focusing on new ideas and other innovative concepts in the games arena.”
Paying users of the Sims Online are being offered a $15 gift voucher and three months premium access to Pogo.
The Sims Online/ EA-Land joins the TechCrunch Deadpool.
A company that knows when to throw in the towel is a smart company indeed. Obviously EA is still on their game.
EA is definitely still on their game - do you think The Sims online will exist in the future? or is that just a dying breed?
Pogo? What happened to Sims Carnival?
EA has proven itself clueless with their TTWO takeover strategy (or lack thereof)
The funny thing is that you don’t about these sites until they go to the dead pool!
LOL!
EA is full of failed experiments online. EASPORTSWORLD.COM is another example of a bunch of clueless managers struggling to understand the net. It failed miserably. Apart from the CEO, the company lacks the leadership to move it past the traditional console gaming, which btw as per metacritic is also not worth much.
With Sims 3 on the way, the Sims Online was probably not standing a chance anyway with the Sims-community eagerly awaiting the new version of their #1 game.
The success of The Sims is based on the ability to choose the kind of gaming-style that appeals to you: Build houses and townships, gather cool furniture and clothes and play Doll-house, set your Sims up for a video-shoot and make Sims-movies or be a contributor and make new sims-stuff including clothes and what-ever. Couple that with the inevitable new expansion-pack coming out every six months or so, and you have a game where you constantly add more and more value to your gaming-experience, by adding more downloaded stuff and new EP’s that brings more fun experience to your never-ending game.
The problem with The Sims Online, such as it was designed, was that your treasure-chest of gathered cool stuff for your Sims to indulge in, would have been more or less useless in the Online world. Now, why would the Online world be interesting to me as a Sims-player (and remember that I would be paying premium bucks to join the Sims Online) if all the reasons that I love my sims-game is stripped out of the Sims Online? Only an EA marketing-exec could answer that question…
This is truly sad, it’s a big loss to a bunch of Sims fans. I think the Sims have become a victim of EA’s greed and lack of interest, and the fans, and future-would-be sims fans, are a victim of EA.
They should spin off the sims off to someone else who will put the money into marketing and long term planning that could make it a huge success. EA Land with a “simslands” name and marketing to families with children would ensure long term future success.
Certainly there are many things aside from proper marketing that could of made the sims online - or even “EA land” a huge success. Easy to customize and personalize would help, and adult islands or even racy online dating cities would have made a fortune.
Instead EA tries to get a hold of a company that is looking to make the fast millions off of a really mature title that is primarily a console game. I guess EA doesn’t care about the small online niche markets, even if those thousands of regular users long term could be extremely valuable, and maintain their value year after year, long after GTA has been forgotten over the next hardcore - “push the limits of decency” bloody game to take over the short term console market.
Actually I almost happy that this is happening, as it leaves room for global advanced media to expand in this area even more. We are already looking at doing similar things, and with EA bowing out, it gives us more opportunity to put a “kid friendly” vr-place into our future plans.
Sims Online was doomed to fail because EA doesn’t understand online games. The only online game that worked for them was Ultima Online long time ago and the team that built it left long long ago because EA is more concerned about selling boxes to Best Buy and Target than to the online population. They are the EMI and Viacom of the new gaming world. Watch a new generation of online games that are casual, like Sims Online was meant to be, but not as tedious and mundane like Second Life. To me this will be covered by new market entrants. Watch for the likes of Gaia, Hello Kitty Online and Habbo Hotel like experiences to take over the online gaming segment that the Sims Online had the potential to take, but chose not to.
next is comming a sims social network…. seriously
Big companies very often try to invent new things but since their have no touch to reality on the street they often fail. You can see this happening everywhere that is why I think EA needs to invest in new ideas that young professionals are developing while still milking their Madden and Sims franchises.
Bring back the gaming events or symposiums of the 80-90s and only invite young professionals with no ties to big corporations.
EA doesn’t understand online gaming? How about Pogo, a site with a ton of paying subscribers?
Pogo is an almost underground phenomenom in the world of casual gaming. They’ve got a huge, paying subscriber base. It’s not as sexy as World of Warcraft, but I bet it’s making them a lot of money.
TSO was mismanaged from the get-go. It was a scenario where it was best in its beta testing (of which I was a member) and then went swiftly downhill shortly after the official launch.
TSO has had mass defections to There.com and SecondLife, and should’ve been shut down 2 years ago.
What if tomorrow you logged onto your favorite game and they told you sorry Game over!
Well Electronic Arts is shutting The Sims Online down!
Our Friends! Our Homes! All gone!
A virtual world being destroyed with the hearts of MANY still beating.
Please show us your support, your game could be next.
Please pass this on. You don’t have to be a Sim to help!
http://www.playercampaigns.com.
All this apparently because they weren’t earning enough money,
and not getting enough subscribers.
The problem is, they never promoted it well enough,
and im sure many of you never even heard of The Sims Online.
This is your chance too, if we save it, to experience one amazing game.
This is NOT impossible, it has happened before.
Well it worked for Disneys VMK (Virtual Magic Kingdom) Which was shut down by Disney.
The players got together and with massive online petitions
now have their own version of that game to play!
HERE is the news the Developer-team gave to us:
http://www.tso-e.com.
You can also sign a petition made as well:
http://www.petitiononline.com/.....ition.html
We are calling out for help! Please lend a hand.
I highly recommend ATITD to those of you who play the Sims. It will be starting it’s 4th “telling” (yes the game has a beginning and an end) in the fall with a free open beta. I have played all 3 tellings and it really is a great game, and similar to the Sims in a lot of ways.
http://www.atitd.com
Check the forum for more info on the beta as they update.
It is run by a very small group of guys but is a wonderful game.
I want to buy wow gold.
Has anyone used togetwow.com before?
I am considering buying wow gold from togetwow.com, are they a reliable site?
How can you rate their service?
I don’t know if any of you all have heard this but EA land is closing it is the new sims online that just opened for free in February. Unfortunately EA has announced that it will be closing on August 1, 2008. If you all could please help out this cause by signing this petition showing that there is interest in the game. Yes there was currently a petition circulating that got 1100 signatures, but for some unknown reasons does not allow any more signatures so please sign this one there is no time to wait! This great game must be saved!
The petition is here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/.....ition.html
This is the EA land website:
http://ea-land.ea.com/blog/
Thank you for your time and please show some support! We want to save this game.
Hello
new milford newspaper
Bye
If EA had a clue what they where doing when they took the game over sims would still be going strong . and as for pogo and 15 bucks off ask me if I have seen mine yet . I would love to see them work as hard as they do onA new sims online game asthey do Wii and Xbox and PS2 game but we all know that will not happen
Toi muon tai the sims