After Cities: Skylines II fiasco, developer realizes gamers are "less accepting" of flawed launches

[Daniel Sims]

In brief: It is becoming increasingly common for high-budget video games to launch with mild or serious issues, often causing players to decide whether to purchase them on day one or wait. Cities: Skylines II was one of last year's most notorious cases. As the game's first anniversary approaches, publisher Paradox Interactive reflects on what it would have done differently.

In an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, Cities: Skylines II publisher Paradox Interactive said it recognizes that player expectations are higher nowadays. The game's disastrous launch has changed the company's approach to other projects like the upcoming Prison Architect 2.

Speaking at a media event, CEO Mattias Lilja admitted that players with limited money and free time are losing patience for flawed games to be fixed post-launch. Paradox and developer Colossal Order knew that Cities: Skylines II had issues upon its initial October 2023 release but underestimated the criticism they would receive from customers. The game still hasn't fully recovered after a year on the market.

Performance was initially the biggest problem. Although the initial system requirements were high, Paradox raised them just before launch, and performance optimization struggles continued afterward.

Furthermore, the console versions were initially scheduled to be released alongside the PC but faced multiple delays and remain delayed indefinitely. Players have also criticized expansions for feeling "rushed," and Paradox has delayed upcoming expansions. The Creator Packs are now scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year, and the Bridges & Ports expansion is expected to arrive in Q2 2025.

Reception to Cities: Skylines II has fallen well short of its beloved 2015 predecessor. The sequel retains a "Mixed" review rating on Steam, and player numbers never recovered from a launch peak of roughly 104,000, according to SteamDB.

Looking back, Paradox chief creative officer Henrik Fåhraeus suggested that the company should have held a closed beta before launch to catch player feedback earlier. He indicated that ordinary players and fans of the first game might have illuminated problems that eluded QA testers.

Paradox's new perspective is likely why it delayed Prison Architect 2 indefinitely in August. Lilja remains confident that the sequel to the popular 2013 management sim features good gameplay, indicating that the delay is for additional technical polish. Hopefully, the publisher can avoid another Cities: Skylines II situation.

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After Cities: Skylines II fiasco, developer realizes gamers are "less accepting" of flawed launches

 

[user556]

I've never heard of the game but lines like "Paradox chief creative officer Henrik Fåhraeus suggested that the company should have held a closed beta before launch to catch player feedback earlier." is clearly an insulting attitude. To the player base obviously, but also to his own staff. A game full of performance issues is a game full of performance issues. There's no gray area on that.

He should be apologising for forcing out an unfinished game that he fully knew wasn't ready.

 

[kira setsu]

No, they saw all these other games, like cyberpunk, no mans sky and other big name titles which were effed up on release yet made bank and decided to gamble...and apparently lost.

if a game is big and famous enough it can be busted as hell and do great(cyberpunk), cities skylines isnt in that group so it got blasted. gamers arent that bright, if their newest upcoming addiction is on the way they'll ignore the fact it runs like hot garbage to get their hit.

 

[dangh]

The problem is, year after release, skylines 2 are still far from being fixed, performance is a joke and at this stage probably nothing will change anymore. They pretend everything is good, but this game with a large city is barely playable on 4090. Code is just bad.

 

[NumberNine]

These predatory gluttons assume entitlement to every aspect of any situation that could increase profits.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

CSII is just bad. Its plain bad. Its missing features from the first game, its not as deep, and you can win any scenario while being brain dead, because the needs are horribly unbalanced. Players hated it, modders left, and the company spent way too long arguing with its own audience.

The era of "insult and abuse our customers until they buy our garbage" is quickly ending, and good riddance. Colossal Order needed a management purge years ago.

 

[FaTaL]

gamers are "less accepting" of flawed launches

because theres so much crap getting shoved down our throats. its like 5 hands force feeding you chicken nuggets and every 3rd nugget has a chicken bone in it.

 

[Ashford]

I've never forgotten or forgiven Creative Assembly for Rome 2...

In 2013 they removed my bug post when they were hiding the extent of the launch issues.

I only last year, after 10 years of boycott, tried one of their games again.

I tell everyone, every chance I get what they did to gamers. So if any publishers out there read this... be warned... I hold serious grudges.

 

[MaestroIT]

Mattias Lilja admitted that players with limited money and free time are losing patience for flawed games to be fixed post-launch

So according to him people with lots of money and free time don't lose patience for flawed games?

 

[Shaitan]

It's Ok, just like for the new woke games (Dragon Age: Veilguard) these m0r0ns put all their energy and money into the progressive messages and marketing instead of making the games good.
My wallet is happy, I'm happy, Space Marine 2 runs decent on my "old" 5900/3080 and I will NOT change them for the new "progressive" Witcher 4 or GTA 6.
Let's see, as time passes, I'm less and less eager to try "new" games and more compelled into playing anything from GOG. NO DRM, NO microtransactions, NO online-only.
I'll pass on Diablo, Call of Duty, shitty FPS with skins, and go for the "ancient" games of the 90's and 2000-2010 decades, which are more than enough for a lifetime.
Ubisoft learned this with the black samurai flop and the uglified-face star wars outlaws.
If we don't open our wallets, these companies will learn.
Do you remember the Star Wars Battlefront II? Where they had to REMOVE the lootboxes?
All we have to do is NOTHING: just refuse to buy.
Remember: "toxic (white) male bad" - it's what Hollywood and the game companies keep telling us for more than a decade.
Oh well, I'll pay/buy Japanese/Korean/non-progressive stuff, such as movies and games.
While Skylines II is but a facet of the larger issue, the abysmal optimization of everything in 2024 is telling of an industry that deserves a nuclear blast to wake up. Bloated budgets and shitty ports/games WILL be punished, sooner or later.
Just my (two) cents.