A-Level Media - SIMS Freeplay - Industry
Summary
TLDRThis guide explores 'The Sims FreePlay,' a mobile game developed by EA Mobile and Firemonkeys Studios, subsidiaries of Electronic Arts. Highlighting EA's vertical and horizontal integration in game development and publishing, the video discusses the game's success with 200 million installs and its availability in 11 languages. It delves into the freemium model, emphasizing constant updates to maintain player engagement and in-app purchases. The video also touches on EA's strategic partnerships for in-game advertising and the game's PEGI 12 rating due to mild adult themes. Lastly, it mentions the game's ban in some countries due to LGBTQ+ relationships and the importance of audience feedback in game development.
Takeaways
- 🕹️ Sims FreePlay is a mobile game developed by EA Mobile and Firemonkeys Studios, both subsidiaries of Electronic Arts.
- 🔍 EA is a leading video game company known for franchises like FIFA, Command & Conquer, and Mass Effect, and is both horizontally and vertically integrated.
- 🌐 The game targets a global audience, being available in 11 languages, and has seen 200 million installations to date.
- 📲 Mobile gaming has become a significant industry, with EA Mobile alone having over 800 employees and nine global offices.
- 💰 EA's financial success is vast, with nearly six billion dollars in annual income and 9,800 staff across 44 studios worldwide.
- 🏆 The Sims franchise was originally developed by Maxis, which was later acquired by EA, demonstrating EA's strategy of horizontal integration.
- 🛠 The game requires constant updates to keep the audience engaged and encourage in-app purchases, which is a key revenue stream.
- 🛍️ EA has formed partnerships for in-game advertising and sponsored content, such as with the clothing brand Macheist, to generate additional revenue.
- 🎮 Sims FreePlay is rated 12 by PEGI and the VSC due to mild references to adult themes, but uses censorship to make it suitable for younger audiences.
- 🚫 The game faces regulatory challenges, being banned in seven countries primarily due to its allowance of LGBTQ+ relationships.
- 📊 EA engages with its audience by incorporating their suggestions, such as the addition of pregnancy features, to maintain player interest and satisfaction.
Q & A
What is Sims FreePlay and why is it relevant for AQA A-Level students?
-Sims FreePlay is a mobile game developed and published by EA Mobile and Firemonkeys Studios, subsidiaries of Electronic Arts. It is relevant for AQA A-Level students because it is a set video game on the AQA A-Level specification, allowing students to study its development, industry impact, and business strategies.
Which companies developed and published Sims FreePlay?
-Sims FreePlay was developed and published by EA Mobile and Firemonkeys Studios, both of which are subsidiaries of the larger video game company, Electronic Arts.
What does it mean for EA to be both horizontally and vertically integrated?
-Being both horizontally and vertically integrated means that EA can develop games through its subsidiaries like EA Mobile and Firemonkeys Studios, and also publish the games themselves without outsourcing to another company. This saves money, gives them more creative control, and allows them to reach a wider audience.
How has the growth of mobile gaming impacted EA Mobile and the industry as a whole?
-The growth of mobile gaming has significantly impacted EA Mobile and the industry by shifting audiences away from console games to mobile platforms. This has led to an increase in the mobile gaming sector, with EA Mobile having over 800 employees and nine global offices, reflecting the industry's expansion.
What was the original company that developed the Sims franchise?
-The Sims franchise was originally developed by a company called Maxis, which was later acquired by EA, integrating the franchise into their portfolio.
How successful has Sims FreePlay been in terms of installations and global reach?
-Sims FreePlay has been highly successful with over 200 million installations to date. It is also available in 11 different global languages, helping it target a worldwide audience.
What are the differences in production practices between mobile games and traditional console games?
-Mobile games like Sims FreePlay require constant updates to reflect changes in mobile technology and to keep the audience engaged, whereas traditional console games are developed and released in a more linear fashion, with less frequent updates post-launch.
How does EA encourage audiences to keep playing Sims FreePlay and make in-app purchases?
-EA encourages continuous engagement and in-app purchases by regularly updating the game with new features, such as adding a second story to homes, pets, balconies, and pools. These updates keep the game exciting and prompt players to spend real-life money on in-game currency and items.
What is the role of synergetic partnerships in EA's revenue generation strategy for Sims FreePlay?
-Synergetic partnerships involve collaborations with other companies and brands for advertising within the game, such as sponsored content or pop-up ads. An example is EA's partnership with the clothing brand Maschino, which allowed the brand's clothing to be featured in the game for players to purchase, generating additional revenue.
How does the game's rating and content regulation impact its global audience?
-Sims FreePlay received a 12 rating from PEGI and the VSC due to mild references to adult themes. While the game censors explicit content, its allowance of LGBTQ relationships has led to bans in seven countries, primarily in Asia, highlighting the challenges of global content regulation and audience acceptance.
What strategies does EA employ to ensure audience satisfaction and engagement with Sims FreePlay?
-EA engages with the audience by responding to their requests and suggestions, such as incorporating the feature of pregnancy in the game based on player feedback. This approach helps to keep the audience satisfied and encourages them to continue playing the game.
Outlines
🕹️ EA Mobile and Fire Monkey Studios: The Developers of Sims FreePlay
This paragraph introduces Sims FreePlay, a mobile game developed and published by EA Mobile and Fire Monkey Studios, both subsidiaries of Electronic Arts (EA). EA is a leading video game company known for franchises like FIFA, Command & Conquer, and Mass Effect. The paragraph discusses EA's business model, which includes both development and publishing, allowing for creative control and cost savings. It also highlights the growth of mobile gaming and EA Mobile's significant presence with over 800 employees and nine global offices. The success of Sims FreePlay is underscored by its 200 million installations and availability in 11 languages, targeting a global audience. The paragraph also touches on the challenges of mobile game updates and the importance of in-app purchases for revenue generation, exemplified by the game's constant updates to attract and retain players.
🤝 Synergy and Regulation in the Mobile Gaming Industry
The second paragraph delves into EA's strategic partnerships and marketing strategies for Sims FreePlay. It mentions synergetic collaborations with brands like Maschino for in-game advertising, which provides additional revenue streams. The paragraph also covers the game's marketing, including trailers that highlight new features like pregnancy and character growth, and the use of social media to engage the audience. It discusses the game's PEGI and VSC rating of 12 due to mild references to adult themes, and the challenges of regulating mobile games across different countries, especially considering cultural and legal differences. The paragraph notes that Sims FreePlay is banned in some Asian countries due to its allowance of LGBTQ relationships. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of audience engagement through responding to player feedback, as exemplified by the incorporation of pregnancy features based on player suggestions.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sims FreePlay
💡EA Mobile
💡Firemonkeys Studios
💡Electronic Arts (EA)
💡Horizontal Integration
💡Freemium Model
💡In-App Purchases
💡Synergetic Partnerships
💡PEGI
💡Cultural and Legal Differences
💡Audience Engagement
Highlights
Sims FreePlay is a set video game for AQA A-Level studies.
Developed by EA Mobile and Firemonkeys Studios, subsidiaries of Electronic Arts.
EA is a massive video game company known for franchises like FIFA and Mass Effect.
EA is both horizontally and vertically integrated, controlling development and publishing.
EA Mobile, a subsidiary, is based in the US with over 800 employees and nine global offices.
The game has seen 200 million installs to date.
Available in 11 global languages, targeting a worldwide audience.
Digital distribution reduces costs for developers and publishers.
Mobile games require constant updates to maintain audience engagement.
Sims FreePlay updates include adding a second story, pets, balconies, and pools.
In-app purchases are the primary revenue source, with players buying Simoleon coins.
EA forms partnerships for in-game advertising and sponsored content.
Sims FreePlay is based on the successful Sims franchise, minimizing risk for EA.
The game was marketed with a trailer highlighting new features like pregnancy and growth.
Rated 12 by PEGI for mild references to adult themes, with censored content.
Sims FreePlay is banned in seven countries due to LGBTQ+ relationships.
EA responds to player feedback, incorporating features like pregnancy.
Transcripts
hello and welcome to my easy to
understand guide to sims free play and
industry
this video is going to be particularly
relevant for you if you're studying aqa
a-level because sims freeplay is
currently a set video game on that
specification sims freeplay is a game
that has been developed and published by
two companies together that is ea mobile
and fire monkeys studios so they are the
two kind of developing companies that
were involved in this both of those
companies are subsidiaries of electronic
arts so um you know this idea that they
are um electronic arts ea is a is a
massive video game company they are
responsible for some really big
franchise games like fifa command and
conquer and mass effect so they have
quite a an existing success in video
games and therefore perhaps have some
pre-sold audiences themselves ea as a
company is both horizontally and
vertically integrated which means that
they can develop the games themselves
via things like ea mobile and fire
monkey studios but they can also publish
the games themselves too
so they were the people that published
the game as well and that means they
don't have to outsource publishing to
another company that saves the money and
gives them more power and creative
control
ea is a big company ea mobile which is
one of its subsidiaries is based in the
us and has over 800 employees and that's
just for ea mobile
they have nine offices globally so um
it's it's very very reflective of the
fact that mobile gaming has become a
really big industry uh both in britain
and around the world lots of audiences
now veering away from console games and
into mobile gaming
the parent company ea
um has nearly uh six billion dollars of
income every single year they have 9
800 staff and they operate out of 44
studios worldwide so an insanely massive
video game company
a company called mexis originally
developed the sims franchise um and ea i
guess recognized the potential of this
game and bought them out so it
horizontally integrated mexis into their
company and then mexican and that idea
then became their idea which was
developed by ea mobile and fire starter
sorry fire monkey studios so um
this horizontal integration the buying
out of other companies that are your
competition potentially is a great way
of of increasing your own profits and
shutting down the competition for your
other games
the game has been hugely successful 200
million people have installed the game
to date and that's probably a few months
old now the statistic so a huge number
of installs
the game is available in 11 different
global languages which really helps it
to target a global audience
of course the digital distribution of
games like mobile games via things like
the app store it's much cheaper than
console based games available as hard
copies like on disk so mobile gaming has
actually reduced the costs for a lot of
um video game developers and publishers
having said that there's obviously very
different production practices involved
in mobile gaming with a normal game
that's released on like a disc um you
you build up and up and up develop the
game and then release it and sell it in
the shops and you're done whereas with a
mobile game it has to be constantly
updated all the time um sometimes those
updates are to reflect updates in mobile
phone technology so when a new operating
system comes out you have to upgrade the
game code as well but also updates to to
make sure the audiences are still
playing and still logging on
and that's particularly true of these
freemium games these games that are free
to download but where they're making
their money off of in-app purchases you
have to keep people visiting the game
it's not just about getting them to
download it or buy the disk you have to
keep them visiting the game and
hopefully try and encourage them to buy
things within the game and the only way
you can do that is to keep updating the
game to make it seem more exciting so um
ea was able to do this by constantly
updating parts of the game to add new
things in so the ability to add a second
story onto your home in sims freeplay
was that was one of the updates the
ability to have pets
the ability to have a balcony the
ability to buy a pool or build a pool
these were all updates that were added
on after the initial game release
this was all to encourage audiences to
keep playing the game to return time and
time again and to keep making in-app
purchases those in-app purchases don't
forget how they're making their money on
this game so encouraging audiences to
spend real-life cash on simoleon coins
and things like that that they're going
to need to buy some of the stuff packs
within the game that's things like
clothes uh it could be furniture it
could be um you know add-ons uh all
sorts of things that you can buy within
the kind of sims store
to earn extra revenue ea has also formed
some synergetic partnerships with other
companies working with brands to offer
them opportunities to advertise within
the game that could be in app um pop-up
advertising or it can be sponsored
content within the game so for example
ea worked with maschino a clothing brand
and offered them the opportunity to
sponsor one of the more recent updates
so that
the brand's
clothing could be featured within the
app store for players to purchase these
synergetic partnerships um offer
opportunities for further revenue to be
earned by ea if you have a think about
hesmond halg and his idea of minimizing
risk and maximizing profit constantly
driving people with those updates to
keep playing the game is a great way of
maximizing your profits the fact that
sims freeplay is based on the sims
franchise and existing successful
franchise audiences would already be
familiar with it and perhaps might have
played it on pc or on consoles so having
it then released as a mobile game and as
a free version of the mobile game um was
a great way of maximizing your profit
and minimizing your risk because it's
part of an existing franchise
they marked the game using a trailer
which kind of picked out the best parts
it showed some of the new parts to the
game this idea of being able to be
pregnant in the game and have a baby and
then watch it kind of grow up so
you know marketing these new features to
audiences using the trailer and of
course the trailer was posted to their
social media pages like facebook twitter
and on youtube as well as well as other
a range of other content on their social
media channels which helped to engage an
audience
peggy is the regulatory body for video
games along with the vsc so the video
standards council
works alongside the peggy regulations
they gave this game a 12 rating
certificate and that is because it has
mild references to alcohol sex and other
adult themes so i guess because the
characters um you know can
have sex have babies um you know and
that there might be drinking within the
game that kind of thing it means that
they gave it this 12 certificate
although the game does show things like
sex nudity drinking etc um it does so in
a reasonably censored way so the game
makers actually use a kind of blurring
filter
to kind of block out any graphic content
to try and make sure that the game isn't
too graphic for younger audiences this
would hopefully make the game uh
more acceptable around the world now 12
certificates used to be quite a good way
of
any age certificate was quite a good way
of restricting an audience when games
were available on disk but actually when
a game is available on a mobile there's
very little checks going on about who is
downloading that game so mobile gaming
has caused quite a lot of issues in
terms of the regulation of these games
it's difficult to regulate an online
game as well because there are different
rules different laws in different
countries what is acceptable and allowed
in the uk isn't necessarily the same as
what's acceptable and allowed in other
countries in fact sims free play is
banned in seven other countries in
particular within asia um and that is
primarily because the game allows lgbtq
relationships um and so uh it's within
certain other countries where things are
perhaps culturally different are legally
different the regulations that we accept
within the uk
are not necessarily regulations that
encompass the whole of the world and
what is acceptable in those countries
the audience is really important for the
companies involved you know because you
need to keep them happy if you want to
keep them visiting the game so
responding to audience request is
important the makers ea actually did
quite a lot of interviews with the
players of sims and asked them what they
wanted in a freemium game and pregnancy
was one of the things that they said
came up time and time again so pregnancy
was incorporated within the game so
responding to fan suggestions is a great
way of trying to engage those audiences
into playing your freemium game
so that was my easy to understand guide
to sims freeplay and industry don't
forget to check out my channel for lots
of other videos about sims freeplay and
indeed all the other set text keywords
and theories for you on aqa a level um
if there are any videos that you would
like that i don't already have please
leave a little comment below and i will
see what i can do
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