Cities: Skylines 2 wanted to improve on the best city builder in the genre, but instead the launch was a disaster.
To call the launch of Cities: Skylines 2 messed up is an understatement. Because the city building simulation has to this day struggling with technical issues such as stuttering performance. There are also inconsistencies in the game logic and simulation core.
Many players ask themselves: How could the Colossal Order game appear in this state? That’s exactly what we asked Deputy CEO Mattias Lilja and Chief Creative Officer Henrik Fåhraeus of Paradox Interactive as part of our major Paradox research. The answer is profound.
The release could not be postponed any further
According to Mattias Lilja, the release date in October 2023 was contractually predetermined. The Paradox brass were aware that the game would have high system requirements, but that seemed acceptable given the features and better graphics.
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10 months after the disaster release: What happened to Cities: Skylines 2?
The fact that the performance was so bad on many hardware combinations was also a surprise for those responsible. A major mistake on their part, Paradox admits. Cities: Skylines 2 clearly came out too early, which shouldn’t have happened.
Asked about the current situationParadox representatives said that publisher and developer Colossal Order will work with fans to address the issues. They will “most likely spend the rest of the year, or at least the majority of it, repairing the base game.”
You can read more exciting statements about Paradox’s strategy and internal problems in Part 1 of our big report with exclusive interview statements:
The future of mods and DLCs
Mattias Lilja and Henrik Fåhraeus see it as part of the repair work in Cities: Skylines 2 to provide full modding support. This has not yet been implemented due to performance problems (which mods usually make worse). However, Paradox also says: Until all of this happens, there will be no further paid content.
Lilja explains that Cities: Skylines even got a sequel at this point by saying that assessing when a sequel would be appropriate is more of an art than a science.
Finally, due to the long development cycles, you have to estimate years in advancewhen a game’s lifetime expires. With such complex decisions, you won’t always make the perfect timing.
