The Sims has always been popular in my family, both me and my mum have loved them since the beginning- they're kind of a very guilty pleasure to me, but an amazing time-sink.
I've had issues about where the Sims has been going since the second or third expansion pack for the 3rd gen. I was kind of accepting of the fact that they were basically updated versions of what you got in the previous gens, but as soon as the Sims Store reared its ugly head, I began to smell a rat. Why should I have to pay an extra £3 for an imaginary sofa set that should be in the game to begin with, when I can just get something similar from ModTheSims.info (awesome site btw) Meanwhile EA gets to slap a £15 price-tag on the expansion packs.
The last straw for me was when the Sims Store started invading the game itself, instead of just being a pop-up that appeared before you launched the game. All of a sudden, whenever you'd go to buy some furniture, extra items would appear, advertising things that you COULD own, as long as you coughed up the necessary £12 for the 2000 Sim Points you needed to buy it. The first time I noticed it, I didn't even realise it was a advert until I clicked on one and it took me to the Store. EA aren't just trying to make a little more cash, they're being crafty about it.
It's not about the content- the 'rabbit holes', the glitches, the rehashed expansion packs. All that stuff can be modded easy enough. When you've already paid your money to play the game, but the game tries luring you into buying more at every menu screen- that's a: greed, and b: selling what could pretty much be called an incomplete game for full price.
The advertising the Sims does for other companies? That's not so new. Anyone remember the IKEA stuff pack? It made a bit more sense than Katy Perry, but it was still an advert. I guess I can see the half-baked reasoning behind charging people money for what is simply an advert for Diesel or IKEA or whatever it is- "We spent money paying people to make it, so why should it be for free?". Doesn't make it right though, especially when the advert packs for the Sims 3 look really half arsed. At least the IKEA one was rammed with new furniture.
This is all obviously EA's tactic at the moment - they've done it with the Sims, they did it with Mass Effect 3, and I have absolutely no doubt they'll do it with SimCity 5. I don't think they've produced a complete, no-dlc game for a while (maybe Alice Madness Returns? Don't think that had any add-ons)
Anyhoo, I can't kick my Sims habit- no matter who is in charge of the development nowadays, I still love the games. I actually got the latest expansion a few days ago - but let's just say EA hasn't been making a profit from me for about 2 years