Speaking to VentureBeat EA labels president Frank Gibeau has revealed that the decision to make The Sims 4 offline-playable was inspired by SimCity's troubled launch.
Gibeau says that the SimCity debacle and being voted Worst Company in America for a second consecutive year has led to changes at EA.
"In the last few months, we have started making changes to the business practices that gamers clearly don't like," Gibeau said. "In the spring, we dropped our online pass program for consoles – both next-generation and current-generation. We listened to the feedback on SimCity and decided that The Sims 4 would be built as a single-player, offline experience. We announced some new intellectual properties at E3 and will unveil more new games in the months ahead."
Despite SimCity's difficulties Gibeau revealed that the game has done quite well selling two million copies to date. "and the number of people logging in and playing is holding steady. SimCity is a success. However, underestimating demand in the first month was a major miss. We hope that the game and the service we've provided since then meets the fans' high standards."
A recent EA survey hinted that SimCity might be playable offline in future.
Gibeau adds that EA are launching an "initiative to help players transition to the new consoles". He says that want the changeover to be "a lot easier by allowing players to carry forward their achievements."
He added that "there's much more to come. The point is we are listening, and we are changing."
Gibeau has previously commented that EA wants to stop being "hated".
The Sims 4 gameplay will be demonstrated for the first time at gamescom next month.
