The Sims 4 Update Adds More Aggressive Ads

gamerant.com:

The Sims 4 introduced an aggressive way of advertising DLC in its latest and highly controversial update. Over the course of nearly a decade,The Sims 4 has come a long way. Features that were missing in its lackluster launch were slowly introduced through a long list of updates, game packs, and expansions that improved on the base game. However, in order to enjoy the full breadth of content in The Sims 4, new players are expected to spend over a thousand dollars, as the fourth installment of Maxis' legendary series boasts 15 expansions, and nearly 60 game packs, stuff packs, and kits in its list of DLCs.

Though the developers attempted to make the franchise more accessible to new fans when The Sims 4 became free-to-play in October 2022, the base game largely suffers from the same criticism that The Sims 4 faced on release, in that the content feels limited when compared to the base game of its predecessors. While purchasing DLCs has become easier through the addition of bundle packs, it's still a daunting financial commitment for any potential player finally willing to give the franchise a shot.

As a result, the community has had a mixed opinion on DLCs for The Sims 4, especially after the game's monetization was placed front-and-center in a recent update. The update, released on February 27, adds a dedicated button to the user interface that guides players towards purchasing game packs. To make matters worse, this button continuously pulses if there is any DLC that the players don't own yet, and if it hasn't been pressed for a few minutes. The new user interface for The Sims 4 was demonstrated by Sims Community on Twitter, and was met with severe backlash by fans of the Sims franchise all across social media.

While it's become an accepted convention to have a premium store button within a game's user interface, the way it was implemented in The Sims 4 appears to be the main source of criticism. Some players claim that the constant pulsing is causing them anxiety,