Wahey, Cities: Skylines 2 solves high rent problem by simply removing all landlords

Sure, the world can be tough, but sometimes games can give us a little laugh and lighten our load. For example, as part of its upcoming economic revamp, Cities: Skylines 2 is addressing the issue of high rents by getting rid of all the virtual landlords.

Yes, this isn’t a joke, or a spoof, or a hallucination you get when you’re standing on a ledge with a hangover and slowly realize that the rent is due. Although Colossal Order will have performance issues at launch for those without NASA-spec PCs, it’s doing things that are sure to win over at least some of its players.

“Let’s start with rent,” Colossal Order said in a dev log detailing some of the changes coming to the game in the upcoming ‘Economy 2.0’ update. “You’ve most likely come across complaints about ‘high rents’ in the game, so let’s talk about that. To go along with the changes to land values ​​in March patch 1.1.0f1, we’ve made some adjustments to how rent works.”

“First,” it continues, “we’ve removed the virtual landlord, so now all tenants contribute equally to the building’s upkeep.” I don’t know about you, but I’m pumping my fist for celebration. Beyond that, the game’s developers have also changed the way rent is calculated and tweaked the high rent notices people receive.

The latter “is now based on household income,” the developer explained: “This means that even if they don’t currently have enough money to pay the rent, they will not complain but will reduce their spending on resource consumption. Only when their income is too low to pay the rent will they complain about ‘high rents’ and look for cheaper housing or move out of the city.”

There are also some adjustments being made that will affect tenants and companies, specifically regarding paying for building maintenance. Basically, if the payments aren’t enough to help keep the building level and in good condition, it will eventually be “in such bad shape that it collapses.” Damn.

That’s okay. Just try to ignore the threat of your residence being blown up by Cities Skylines 2 NPCs. The landlord is gone, and that’s all that matters.