The Sims competitor Life by You canceled before entering early access

Paradox Interactive has canceled Life by You, a life simulator game in the style of The Sims. The project was supposed to launch a couple of weeks ago, but got delayed at the last minute.

Life by You was in development at Paradox Tectonic under the supervision of The Sims 3 and Second Life alumnus Rob Humble. It was a life simulation sandbox where players could build a town, customize the people within it, and control them as they went about their daily lives. Notably, conversations between its characters featured full dialogue rather than a fictional language like Simlish. Paradox, a publisher known for games like Cities: Skylines and Europa Universalis IV, planned to release the game to early access but kept delaying it. Its September 2023 early access release date eventually became a June 2024 one, but just weeks ahead of release, Paradox delayed the game indefinitely. Now, it seems that management at Paradox has lost faith in Life by You.

“For a long time, we’ve held hopes for Life by You and the potential we saw in it, but it is now clear that the game will not be able to meet our expectations,” Paradox Interactive CEO Fredrik Wester explained in a message to investors. “A version that we’d be satisfied with is too far away, and therefore we are taking the difficult decision to cancel the release. Moving forward, we should perform at a much higher level, and it’s obvious that we have work ahead of us.”

These sentiments were reflected in comments made by another Paradox developer on the company’s official forums. Wester went on to admit that Paradox has “performed poorly in recent releases,” likely referencing the fact that The Lamplighters League flopped and that Cities: Skylines 2 has had a rocky launch. Going forward, Wester says, Paradox will “make further changes so that quality is more consistent and the promises we make to our players are met.” It’s unclear if Paradox Tectonic is being shut down as a result.

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