The simulation city building game Cities: Skylines II was released in October 2023 but faced numerous issues with its quality, leading to a departure from its acclaimed reputation from the first installment (average review score of 74/100, Mostly Negative on Steam).
Half a year later, the game’s quality issues remained unresolved, prompting the developers Colossal Order and publishers Paradox Interactive to resort to a predictable solution – releasing paid DLCs to add content.
However, the first DLC, Beach Properties, priced at $10, also suffered from poor quality. The luxurious beach villas did not live up to the advertised beauty, resulting in backlash from disappointed fans.
Recently, Paradox had to issue an apology for the subpar DLC release and announced refunds for those who purchased Beach Properties. The DLC will now be offered for free instead. Customers who bought the Ultimate Edition, which includes this DLC, will receive additional content updates instead of a refund.
Mariina Hallikainen, the CEO of Colossal Order, and Mattias Lilja, the COO of Paradox Interactive, penned letters of apology to the fans, acknowledging the repeated disappointment caused and promising to allocate time to improve the main game. They invited player representatives to provide input on what changes should be made.
As for future plans, the upcoming DLC Bridges and Ports has been postponed to 2025, along with the console version’s release, due to ongoing performance issues that the development team is working to address on consoles.
Source: Paradox Interactive, Ars Technica
TLDR: Cities: Skylines II faced quality issues post-launch, leading to disappointing paid DLC releases and refunds, with plans to improve the game with input from players and delays in upcoming DLC and console version releases.
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