Paradox Interactive has officially cancelled Life by You, its long-delayed life simulator designed to rival The Sims. In a blog post, Mattias Lilja, Deputy CEO of Paradox Interactive called the move a “clear failure on Paradox’s part” as the game failed to meet the publisher’s and the community’s expectations.
The decision to cancel the game arrived during a late-stage game evaluation, where Paradox Interactive began to interrogate the the steps needed to hit early access. While the publisher previously announced the game was “ready” for its June 2024 release, it appears significant roadblocks were found in quality assessment.
Why did Paradox cancel Life by You?
With the game’s early access date approaching, Paradox made a judgement call, and flagged that more time would not improve Life by You. There were reportedly too many issues to address in development, and the road to release was “far too long and uncertain.”
“Life by You had a number of strengths and the hard work of a dedicated team that went into realising them. However, when we come to a point where we believe that more time will not get us close enough to a version we would be satisfied with, then we believe it is better to stop,” Lilja said.
Read: Paradox’s Sims rival ‘Life by You’ has been delayed indefinitely
“This is obviously tough and disappointing for everyone who poured their time and enthusiasm into this project, especially when our decision comes so late in the process.”
What’s next for Paradox Interactive?
While Life by You was a promising title for Paradox Interactive, backed by excitement about its potential to “leave a mark” on the life simulator genre, work on the game will now cease entirely. With every announced delay for the game, Paradox reportedly saw improvements, but not enough to save it.
“At the end of the day, our job is to release games that are fun, interesting, and challenging for our players, and our every decision should be taken with that purpose in mind,” Lilja said.
In the wake of Life by You‘s outright cancellation, Lilja has promised Paradox Interactive will “take a long and hard look” at what led to this decision, and work towards making development processes and publisher check-ins “better” for everyone. “In the end, our mission remains the same, and we’ll continue to take whatever steps we need to do just that.”
Going forward, Paradox Interactive will leave Life by You behind, and focus on its other major projects, which include Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, Cities: Skylines 2, and more.
Update 19/6: As announced, Life by You developer Paradox Tectonic will also be shut down as part of Paradox Interactive’s internal assessment.
“This is difficult and drastic news for our colleagues at Tectonic, who’ve worked hard on Life by You’s Early Access release. Sadly, with cancellation of their sole project we have to take the tough decision to close down the studio,” Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive said.
Paradox Tectonic employed 24 people, and had been in operation since 2019.
For now, it seems, the hope of a major Sims rival is once again dormant. With Life by You serving as a lesson, we may not see another attempt to innovate in the life sim genre for quite some time.
