EA: “The open world of The Sims 3 is a huge risk”

CVG spoke with The Sims 3 associate producer MJ Chun about the risks of the open neighborhood of the game.

“One of the things that I think is risky is whether or not people will find that the town feels alive to them. I think it’s a risk because you control your Sim and traditionally it has been about your home lot and now there’s this open world.

“I think some people are going to find that it’s too much and that they want that level of control back, and that some people are going to be disappointed and want more. I’m interested in seeing what the community thinks about it.

“There’s huge tension between keeping it new and making something really progressive and at the same time staying true to the brand,” Chun added. “It’s like being a teenager, it’s a huge identity crisis and The Sims 3 definitely has that as well…”

Is it really that much of a gamble?  I always had a hard time keeping up with my characters in The Sims 2.  So much to do and many places to go once all of the expansions were factored in.  Now that the Sims AI takes over, hopefully it will lighten the load to explore and do other things of interest.  I just hope it isn’t dumbed down too much like SimCity Societies was, then we would have issues.

Check out CVG later today as they plan to post their whole interview with MJ Chun.