Paradox Interactive’s deputy CEO, Mattias Lilja, recently discussed several of the company’s recent projects, including the delay of Prison Architect 2, the cancellation of Life By You, and the reception of Cities: Skylines 2.
According to Lilja, Prison Architect 2 faced quality issues, prompting a delay in ensuring the final product met the standards players expected. He pointed out that the challenges with Prison Architect 2 were not the same as those faced with Life By You, but both titles required extra time to provide a better experience for players.
Lilja highlighted a significant shift in the gaming market, explaining that players now have higher expectations for games and are less willing to accept post-launch fixes. This change in consumer behavior has become more evident in the past couple of years, with players being quicker to abandon games that don’t meet their standards.
In this competitive environment, where only a few games dominate the majority of the player base, many others are quickly overlooked. This trend is driving the need for games to be polished and engaging from the start.
The conversation also turned to Cities: Skylines 2, which had major performance issues upon its release, despite Paradox expecting some challenges. Lilja admitted that the company underestimated how severe the issues would be and acknowledged that some of the problems were not fully understood before launch.
He took responsibility for these misjudgments, noting that the game’s performance issues were more pronounced than anticipated by both the development team and players.
Henrik Fåhraeus, Paradox’s chief creative officer, added that one of the key takeaways from the experience with Cities: Skylines 2 was the importance of early player involvement. He suggested that bringing players in for broader testing during development could have helped identify and address potential problems earlier.
Fåhraeus expressed hope that by being more transparent and open with players in the future, Paradox could avoid similar issues and improve the overall experience for its audience.
Paradox Interactive is adjusting its approach in response to the challenges faced with Cities: Skylines 2 and other recent titles. The company recognizes that gamers now expect a more polished product at launch and are less tolerant of post-release patches.
Paradox plans to be more transparent with players, gather feedback earlier in the development process, and apply these lessons to ensure future releases meet higher expectations from the outset.
