The makers of Cities: Skylines II have pledged to focus on fixing the base game after fans revolted against a disappointing paid DLC. The $10 Beachfront Properties pack scored a stunning 96 percent negative rating in Steam reviews and now the companies behind the urban planning sim have apologized, promised refunds for the latest paid content, and announced an “advisory meeting” with high-profile players to chart Skylines II’s redemption course.
“We thought we could make up for the shortcomings of the game in a timeframe that was unrealistic, and rushed out a DLC that should not have been published in its current form,” reads a new joint statement from Colossal Order CEO Marlina Halikainen and deputy Paradox Interactive CEO Mattias Lija. “For all this, we are truly sorry. When we’ve made statements like this one before, it’s included a pledge to keep making improvements, and while we are working on these updates, they haven’t happened at a speed or magnitude that is acceptable, and it pains us that we’ve now lost the trust of many of you.”
The companies basically admit that plowing ahead with Cities: Skylines II’s post-launch plans despite the underlying game still needing tons of work compounded issues and burned through the rest of the community’s goodwill. Last month’s Beachfront Properties DLC was just the cherry on top: a paid update that rankled players with its bad-looking houses and lack of actual beachfront assets. “Absolute bullshit,” one Steam review reads. “They release a DLC before even fixing the game. The enshittification of things continues.”
Since Cities: Skylines II arrived last October, players have been complaining about problems with limited editing tools, massive performance issues, too few assets, and wonky economic simulations, with cities either being too easy to fund or going completely bankrupt. Skylines II maker Colossal Order promised no paid DLC until the game’s performance issues at launch were fixed, and despite many improvements, pushing ahead with the $10 Beachfront Properties DLC while other issues remained unaddressed pushed community sentiment into a nosedive.
“Apparently the new meta is to release sequels in barely playable, unfinished states and make everyone suffer,” wrote one player on Steam. “Developers suffering. Players suffering. Reputation of studios suffering.”
While Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive will refund the Beachfront DLC and make it free for everyone, players who acquired it through the Ultimate Edition of the game will receive $40 worth of creator packs and radio stations as a make good instead. Future paid DLC like the Bridges and Ports Expansion have been pushed to 2025 while the developers focus on free patches and fixes to the base game. The console version of Skylines II has also been delayed. Previously targeting this spring, the game now won’t come to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S until October at the earliest.
So far, many Skylines II players have greeted the announcement as a good first step that will need to be backed up by tangible progress. Others feel the situation is beyond repair. “Very nice of them to say all that, though I am kind of tired of reading promises of a better future all the time with nothing to show for it,” wrote one player on Reddit. “Hope the upcoming updates will be satisfactory because I really want to love the game.”
