https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/paradox-ceo-admits-company-made-wrong-calls-in-several-projects-in-wake-of-life-by-yous-cancellation
Paradox Interactive made a profit in Q2 2023, but just barely due to the write-down after cancelling Sims competitor Life By You.
Yeah but after Cities:Skylines 2, you have to imagine that LBY had to be looking ROUGH if Paradox was afraid of showing it to the world. They probably did us a mercy tbh.
C:S 2 got lots of preview coverage as well. Marketers are very good at hiding performance issues in preview coverage.
Paralives is still going strong! It's looking like it will be strong enough of a competitor to actually influence future sims developments.
Just look at the trailer. Of course there is still some animation jank, but the overall visuals are just stunning.
It's so uncanny valley that I might feel bad for deleting the pool ladders (or whatever the equivalent of that is in inZOI).
This is a shame, I haven’t played a sims game in a while and I remember them quite fondly. The latest EA sims stuff has just been utter micro transaction slop, or at least last I checked. I hate to see a smaller studio that’s not working through one of bastard publishers get hit like this.
I’m a lot more patient with paradox than I am with other publishers. Their focus still seems on producing interesting games rather than chasing “maximized revenue”. There are realities to being a publisher though. if a studio is failing to produce something and your financials are limited, there’s only so much risk you can take on extending deadlines, and writing something off for a quick boost to financials is a alluring sirens call.
I have my issues with how paradox studios design is affected by their DLC model, but I don’t think there’s a better way to bring in ongoing revenue to fund further development.
It’s a mess, all of it, but it is a results of the context and system they exist with in, not necessarily the will of those making the calls at paradox. Paradox tends to do a better job of existing with in the system without making pure slop than other big publishers, so they have my patience for that.
The latest EA sims stuff has just been utter micro transaction slop, or at least last I checked.
Feels like the only valid way to play the Sims these days is to pirate it. No one wants to pay $500 for the complete DLC collection, and if you don't have that you'll always be plagued with fomo and possible mod conflicts.