The Way Forward, an update from the team behind Cities: Skylines

[Cities: Skylines Official]

Dear Cities fans,

We see and understand the disappointment many of you have expressed after the release of Cities: Skylines II and the recent release of Beach Properties. We asked for your patience and support, and you’ve shown those. In return, we let you down. 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. 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. We want to do better.

The very first thing we’re doing is to compensate those who purchased Beach Properties. We will change the pack to be a free addition to the game, refund it to the extent possible, and provide additional content within the Ultimate Edition. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to offer refunds for Ultimate Edition buyers. This is due to the distribution of the Ultimate Edition across digital and physical storefronts, which create significant complexities for executing a partial refund. We realize that this is far from ideal, especially given the dedication those who have stayed with us since launch have shown. We are committed to repaying that loyalty, and therefore, we will compensate Ultimate Edition holders by adding 3 Creator Packs and 3 Radio Stations which, together, sum up to a value of USD 39.99. This solution hopefully ensures that you, regardless of purchase method, feel you receive fair compensation.

Looking ahead, we also want to make immediate and meaningful changes in the way we approach the game’s development and our communication with you. Firstly, this means a complete focus on improving the base game and modding tools, and secondly, we want to better involve you, the community, as we choose our priorities going forward. We will focus on additional free patches and game updates in the coming months before Colossal Order spends time on new paid content, resulting in a move of the Bridges and Ports Expansion to 2025. In addition, the aforementioned Creator Packs are being produced independently, and will not take any focus away from the work on improving the game. To make sure we focus on the right things, we’re putting together an advisory meeting, where a small group of player representatives, together with Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive, will discuss the development plan for this year. The people in this group are chosen for the size of their following within the community to represent as many people as possible. The teams from Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive will provide them with full transparency and answer any questions and critiques voiced. Our hope is that together with you, our community, we can make sure that we do not repeat the same mistakes we have made in the past and bring this game into a bright future.

We also want to address the pending Console release. As you know, our plan was to release in Spring of this year. We have been hesitant to communicate an actual release window because of the uncertainty we are facing, and to not make further promises we might not be able to keep. We have been struggling to get Cities: Skylines II to the necessary level of optimization for a console release, but are now hopeful that an upcoming build delivery in April will demonstrate sufficient progress for us to progress with a release candidate, and then a release build targeted for October. Before we have seen and evaluated the progress made in these builds however, we will not be able to confirm the release date, and even then, some uncertainty always remains. Our ambition is to deliver the experience that you all deserved at launch, but it will take time. It’s important to note that the team working on the console release operates separately from our PC development team, so it will be progressing without splitting our focus or time.

In closing, we want to reaffirm our dedication to making Cities: Skylines II the best city builder it can be. We appreciate your support and feedback, and hope we can regain your trust going forward. It’s our responsibility to earn it, and we hope these actions are a first step in the right direction.
We are deeply grateful for your continued passion for our game. Please stay tuned for further updates on the game and the refund process, and thank you for being a part of our community.

Sincerely,
Mariina Hallikainen
CEO, Colossal Order

Mattias Lilja
Deputy CEO, Paradox Interactive

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We have created an FAQ Page with information on how your refunds will be processed and further information about release timelines.

 

[Qoushik]

<3

 

[under the water man]

good

 

[gameblogger]

Three questions;

1. What sort of additional content can Ultimate Edition buyers expect?
2. Can you guarantee that we won;t see a repeat of the disaster that was the DLC?
3. What is the status of the asset editor?

 

[saladuit]

This is honestly the best announcement since release. All we ask for is some clear communication. I hope you will continue this trend!

 

[Billionairek]

Now this is true accountability. Looking forward to CO maintaining this attitude.

 

[sirkan35]

Appreciate the commitment to transparency and the goodwill shown here. Have been a fan of CS from the beginning and if there’s anything I can do to help improve the game let me know.

 

[Mav12]

Three questions;

1. What sort of additional content can Ultimate Edition buyers expect?
2. Can you guarantee that we won;t see a repeat of the disaster that was the DLC?
3. What is the status of the asset editor?

for #1 it says in the post 3 creator packs and 3 radio stations for UE buyers.

 

[astrognash]

Three questions;

1. What sort of additional content can Ultimate Edition buyers expect?
2. Can you guarantee that we won;t see a repeat of the disaster that was the DLC?
3. What is the status of the asset editor?

From the text of the post: "we will compensate Ultimate Edition holders by adding 3 Creator Packs and 3 Radio Stations which, together, sum up to a value of USD 39.99."

 

[seanbaran77]

Thank you. As a console player this is all I have been asking for. Not a release date but simply an update since the delay was announced last year. Much appreciated!!

 

[Briggzyy]

You cant change the past and the strange decisions already made - rightly people are angry.

What you can do is work on the present and future, this is a good start.

However, we have heard it all before and I can't truly believe what is being said until it is delivered, as so many of these sort of posts have already been made and promises not delivered. You have to deliver tangible results now, and fast. It's the only way to get the community onside after what we have had to put up with so far.

 

[lord_eizkalt]

Three questions;

1. What sort of additional content can Ultimate Edition buyers expect?
2. Can you guarantee that we won;t see a repeat of the disaster that was the DLC?
3. What is the status of the asset editor?

For no 2) this is in the post " we will compensate Ultimate Edition holders by adding 3 Creator Packs and 3 Radio Stations which, together, sum up to a value of USD 39.99."

 

[FlameBoy05]

It seems that CO is finally starting to acknowledge the fact that the game is still really unfinished. Happy to hear, that they're gonna focus on fixing the game before dlc's

 

[ezie_e]

Good job

 

[TheMasterBlade]

Top news! will be good to see a focus on updates! Thank you!

 

[calgarymaccities]

I know that your team created a great game in CS 1. Given that you have that experience and the necessary skills I wonder whether focusing on the basics for the game rather than expectations of the players might be more useful at this point. While I appreciate your taking responsibility for the missteps so far I really prefer that the focus be on building the game so that it works better and move on from that. Our expectations as players are important but everyone ends up frustrated if the basics are not working well. I am more patient when I see progress in activating improvements even if they are smaller. We all want the big improvements but I think that attending to what you know works in developing a game is important. Distributing smaller changes more frequently so we see the evolution provides results as well as anticipation of what is coming next.

Keep up your work - will pay off for everyone but perhaps at a slower pace. I prefer something that works well.

 

[andresro14]

This is great news!
We need transparency

 

[Tokar86a]

Appreciate the commitment to transparency and the goodwill shown here. Have been a fan of CS from the beginning and if there’s anything I can do to help improve the game let me know.

Yes i agree CS sure have been a good game in the compare to Sim City. But it is kind of sad that they have rush the release of this game and it should have been more polish before they release it. Or change it to early access game.

 

[miikaiel]

Three questions;

1. What sort of additional content can Ultimate Edition buyers expect?
2. Can you guarantee that we won;t see a repeat of the disaster that was the DLC?
3. What is the status of the asset editor?

Did you read the post?

 

[miikaiel]

I know that your team created a great game in CS 1. Given that you have that experience and the necessary skills I wonder whether focusing on the basics for the game rather than expectations of the players might be more useful at this point. While I appreciate your taking responsibility for the missteps so far I really prefer that the focus be on building the game so that it works better and move on from that. Our expectations as players are important but everyone ends up frustrated if the basics are not working well. I am more patient when I see progress in activating improvements even if they are smaller. We all want the big improvements but I think that attending to what you know works in developing a game is important. Distributing smaller changes more frequently so we see the evolution provides results as well as anticipation of what is coming next.

Keep up your work - will pay off for everyone but perhaps at a slower pace. I prefer something that works well.

They said the packs are being independently created and other DLC delayed so they can focus on the base game. You guys really need to read the post before commenting.