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A warm farewell and exciting welcome!

Greetings Architects,

After 9 years together, Double Eleven is leaving Prison Architect. Double Eleven has been with us since the console port, led the development of the game on all platforms, and has been working on Prison Architect 2 over the last few years. With the sequel passing certification on all platforms, the contract was fulfilled. However, we could not find a commercial agreement that worked for both parties moving forward and mutually agreed to part ways.

The baton is now being passed on to Kokku, who’s been working on Prison Architect 2 since the autumn of last year together with, and supported by Double Eleven. Kokku is now delivering on the plan that we shared with you last week, read more here.

In this text, we are going to talk more about how we are managing the transition and we will also be sharing a letter from Gaz at Double Eleven. You might have already read messages from him in the past, as Gaz has been a passionate force in the development of Prison Architect 2 and has also shared texts in our Feature and Developer Highlights these past few months. Read Gaz’s full letter here: http://pdxint.at/gazletter

After talking to multiple studios, Kokku was found to be the best fit for the game going forward, as they are veterans in the gaming industry and also long-time fans of Prison Architect. If you’d like to read more about Kokku, head over to their website. You will get to know them better on the road to launch, in our upcoming Developer Diaries and insights on the game.

To prepare for the transition, Paradox, Kokku, and Double Eleven have had many conversations over the past few months on the vision for Prison Architect 2, the many possibilities offered by 3D, and the features that could be added to the game in the future. This transition has been a smooth experience for us all, as we share a common long-term vision of Prison Architect 2. We want to build the game’s future with you, the players, and we will continue looking at our Forum’s suggestion-board when deciding our focus post-release. You can share yours and vote for your favorites on our forums: https://pdxint.at/PA2Suggestions

We thank you, the Architects, for your continued support and passion for the game. We wish Double Eleven all the best in their up-and-coming endeavors as they now fully hand over the baton to Kokku, and we are looking forward to the road ahead.
 
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So, basically you lied to us. You've been planning this for months, but made no mention of it as the reason the game was delayed.

You did this long stream where you talked about the delays of the game being caused by an inferior console version, and you wanted to get that up to par. I was wondering why you'd delay the PC release to save the console version...and now we know it was just a lie. You needed the time to switch developers.

Why can't you game companies just tell the truth? You want our money, and you have nothing to lose by telling us the truth.

A delay happens, and after Cities Skylines 2 I think all of use would rather see a delay than a shoddy product. No one like a delay, but we hate being lied to.

I am canceling my pre-order, and I was excited for the game.

I want to be clear, it's not that I don't think this new team can take the game over the finish line. It's being lied to. I won't support a company who just blatantly lies for no logical reason. It makes no sense to not just say you are working to switch developers and there is a delay. Even if you believe that people would lose trust, many would not. But they 100% lose trust when you lie like this.
 
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Ghostmane said:
So, basically you lied to us. You've been planning this for months, but made no mention of it as the reason the game was delayed.

You did this long stream where you talked about the delays of the game being caused by an inferior console version, and you wanted to get that up to par. I was wondering why you'd delay the PC release to save the console version...and now we know it was just a lie. You needed the time to switch developers.

Why can't you game companies just tell the truth? You want our money, and you have nothing to lose by telling us the truth.

A delay happens, and after Cities Skylines 2 I think all of use would rather see a delay than a shoddy product. No one like a delay, but we hate being lied to.

I am canceling my pre-order, and I was excited for the game.

I want to be clear, it's not that I don't think this new team can take the game over the finish line. It's being lied to. I won't support a company who just blatantly lies for no logical reason. It makes no sense to not just say you are working to switch developers and there is a delay. Even if you believe that people would lose trust, many would not. But they 100% lose trust when you lie like this.
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To be fair I'm betting it is the execs who do the lying while the devs have to put up with it. Do the execs even read these comments anyways? Eh but fair, I wouldn't trust a company who lies with my money.
 
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Miguelinileugim said:
To be fair I'm betting it is the execs who do the lying while the devs have to put up with it. Do the execs even read these comments anyways? Eh but fair, I wouldn't trust a company who lies with my money.
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It is not about who lies or holding back critical information imo. It's the being lied to/having critical info held back and the loss of trust in the game, its development and the future.
If we can't get transparancy now, we won't get it in the future. This info was known to them probably since before they announced the game. So we have no idea what else is being held back nor what we are buying. For that reason I cancelled my preorder as well.
 
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Where does your money actually go Paradox? For all your games, across all your studios, with all the drip-fed DLC's, in a cost of living crisis, Paradox decides to terminate involvement with develops for disputing pay. If you can't fund the development of a studio working on your game how am I expected to remain loyal? If it's too much money all these developers are asking for; stop using so many. You're likely spread too thin. So many great titles, all the same predatory DLC policy, it's not a studio problem it's you Paradox.
 
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Ghostmane said:
So, basically you lied to us. You've been planning this for months, but made no mention of it as the reason the game was delayed.

You did this long stream where you talked about the delays of the game being caused by an inferior console version, and you wanted to get that up to par. I was wondering why you'd delay the PC release to save the console version...and now we know it was just a lie. You needed the time to switch developers.

Why can't you game companies just tell the truth? You want our money, and you have nothing to lose by telling us the truth.

A delay happens, and after Cities Skylines 2 I think all of use would rather see a delay than a shoddy product. No one like a delay, but we hate being lied to.

I am canceling my pre-order, and I was excited for the game.

I want to be clear, it's not that I don't think this new team can take the game over the finish line. It's being lied to. I won't support a company who just blatantly lies for no logical reason. It makes no sense to not just say you are working to switch developers and there is a delay. Even if you believe that people would lose trust, many would not. But they 100% lose trust when you lie like this.
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Thanks for posting this because all I ever knew was this forum for news and changing developer was never publicly said that I could see, so writing this as already known was surprising.

So maybe a staff member could clarify this for the sake of community management.
 
I'll be honest, switching dev studios mid-stream like this doesn't bode well for the future of this game, regardless of the reason for the change.


Thankfully, I was never into Prison Architect, so I won't be personally affected, but if I were a fan, I'd be more than a little pissed, especially those who took pre-orders (which you should never do).
 
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EU3NOOB said:
I'll be honest, switching dev studios mid-stream like this doesn't bode well for the future of this game, regardless of the reason for the change.


Thankfully, I was never into Prison Architect, so I won't be personally affected, but if I were a fan, I'd be more than a little pissed, especially those who took pre-orders (which you should never do).
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Steam refunds preorders no questions asked.
And yes, I will keep preordering.
 
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.NoWay. said:
Steam refunds preorders no questions asked.
And yes, I will keep preordering.
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Seriously, what actual benefits does pre-ordering a digital only game actually offers you?
 
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LVTrish said:
Sigh. What the heck is going on over at PDX anymore?
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My guess? They expanded too fast and overextended themselves and are thus trying to do things far too quickly in order to recoup the costs of their expansion.

They've also been taking on too many unnecessary risks. For example, regardless of how you feel about the game, Paradox should never have tried to publish Millennia. That's a studio that was simply not ready for the big leagues of the AA games industry.

Paradox needs to tighten things up or risk losing everything they've gained in the last decade.
 
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