Paradox Interactive has officially canceled its highly anticipated life simulation game, Life by You. The announcement came weeks after the game was delayed indefinitely in May.
Paradox Interactive Axes Sims Competitor 'Life by You'
Further Development on Life by You Would be a Waste According to Paradox Interactive
Paradox Interactive Deputy CEO Mattias Lilja first shared the announcement of the cancellation of its upcoming life simulation game, Life by You, on Paradox’s forums this Monday, expressing regret over the decision. Life by You was in development for a considerable time, with high hopes of making a significant impact in the life simulation genre. Initially set for an early access release in September 2023, the game faced multiple delays, first to March 2024, then June, and finally an indefinite delay in May.
"Sadly, we’ve decided to cancel the release of our long-awaited life sim Life by You," Lilja said. "This was an incredibly difficult call to make and is a clear failure on Paradox’s part to meet both our own and the community's expectations. We realize this raises some large questions; here we hope to shed at least some light on why we opted to cancel, rather than delay as we communicated earlier."
Despite improvements and considerable come backs with each delay, the team ultimately decided that further development would not bring the game up to their standards, and so canceling the game altogether.
"A few weeks back, we decided to hold off on an Early Access release in order to re-evaluate Life by You, as we still felt that the game was lacking in some key areas," Lilja explained. "Though a time extension was an option, once we took that pause to get a wider view of the game, it became clear to us that the road leading to a release that we felt confident about was far too long and uncertain."
Life by You, first revealed in 2023, showcased eye-candy features such as real-time town simulation with no loading screens and a procedurally generated real-language system for dialogue. The game promised a more in-depth sim experience where every character in the fictional city had jobs, homes, relationships, and basic needs, contributing to a richly detailed world.
However, despite these promising elements, the project had to have been sacked. "At the end of the day, our job is to release games that are fun, interesting, and challenging for our players, and our every decision should be taken with that purpose in mind," Lilja stated. "When we come to a point where we believe that more time will not get us close enough to a version we would be satisfied with, then we believe it is better to stop."
This announcement also came on the heels of another decision by Paradox. In April, the company announced refunds for customers who purchased the first DLC for Cities Skylines 2, after the content was rushed out to negative reception. The DLC content will now be added to the base game for free, as announced by the studio.
Source:
Paradox Forum
Sims competitor Life by You has been canceled
