Paradox Interactive cancels its Sims rival Life By You following indefinite delay, closes studio
Update: Paradox has officially closed the game's 24-person studio. “This is difficult and drastic news for our colleagues at Tectonic, who’ve worked hard on Life by You’s Early Access release,” said CEO Fredrik Wester. “Sadly, with cancellation of their sole project we have to take the tough decision to close down the studio. We are deeply grateful for their hard work in trying to take Paradox into a new genre.”
Paradox Interactive has confirmed that its Sim-like title Life By You has been canceled after multiple delays for failing to meet the company’s expectations.
The details:
Mattias Lilja, the publisher's deputy CEO, confirmed the cancellation in a forum post on Monday. “Sadly, we’ve decided to cancel the release of our long-awaited life sim Life By You,” Lilja wrote. “This was an incredibly difficult call to make and is a clear failure on Paradox’s part to meet both our own and the community’s expectations.”
The executive went on to explain why the game was canceled rather than delayed again, stating that after evaluating the title following its most recent delay, Paradox believed it was "lacking in some key areas." “Though a time extension was an option, once we took that pause to get a wider view of the game, it became clear to us that the road leading to a release that we felt confident about was far too long and uncertain,” he said.
Life By You was intended to be the debut title from Paradox Tectonic, a studio founded in 2019 led by Rod Humble, the former CEO of Second Life developer Linden Lab and head of EA's The Sims label. It was originally scheduled for an early access release in September 2023, but was pushed back to March 2024 and then to June, despite Paradox claiming that the game was ready for an early access launch in April.
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