when we have some news?

[NichEvs]

This post is a great example of the 5 stages of grief ... I believe the general mood is now between bargaining and depression ... love it.

thats how the worlds going to end, right

 

[sys_64738]

We don't know how much people are still working at CO. They're probably only a few in which case the current stream of money may be enough to pay a couple of devs adding some touches on the final UE DLC and fixing a few bugs, mostly for the show. But definitely not enough to pay a 30 employee studio already working on the 2026 DLCs. CO/PDX have become secretive companies, anyway and the only communication we got for a year has been the marketing drivel. I'm pretty sure this won't change.

Hi BoraBora,

so you mean that CO has encountered the 5/5 office bug as well?

Best regards,
sys

 

[BoraBora]

Hi BoraBora,

so you mean that CO has encountered the 5/5 office bug as well?

Best regards,
sys

I do!

 

[Arararamba]

Then its a feature and not a bug haha

So they reched 10k stock, couldn't find any buyers and had to lay of employees.

 

[PTOE Plays]

We don't know how much people are still working at CO. They're probably only a few in which case the current stream of money may be enough to pay a couple of devs adding some touches on the final UE DLC and fixing a few bugs, mostly for the show. But definitely not enough to pay a 30 employee studio already working on the 2026 DLCs. CO/PDX have become secretive companies, anyway and the only communication we got for a year has been the marketing drivel. I'm pretty sure this won't change.

The lack of staff dedicated to community engagement and glacial development pace hint to this.

 

[Black_Shade]

We don't know how much people are still working at CO. They're probably only a few in which case the current stream of money may be enough to pay a couple of devs adding some touches on the final UE DLC and fixing a few bugs, mostly for the show. But definitely not enough to pay a 30 employee studio already working on the 2026 DLCs. CO/PDX have become secretive companies, anyway and the only communication we got for a year has been the marketing drivel. I'm pretty sure this won't change.

Skylines 1 sold between 10 and 15 million copies, and then had a few dozen DLC on top of that. If the average CS1 customer spent $50 on the game (base+whatever DLCs), that's $500 million in sales over the life of the game. Sure, steam takes 20-30%. Paradox also takes their cut. But if CO had 50 employees and paid them all $100k/year, that's only $5 million/year in expenses. And I don't think CO has ever had that many employees, and probably isn't paying them that amount beyond lead devs given that they're located in Finland.

There's also CS2, which sold between 1-2 million copies. It's $50 and hasn't been on sale too many times since release. That's another $50 million in sales.

Where did all the cash go that they would have to be running Skylines 2 on a shoestring budget? They made too much money for this to be the case, unless they've given up on CS2 and have already internally started on something else... like CS3 and moving away from Unity which is clearly being pushed beyond what it is capable of doing with CS2.

 

[Ashreon]

I have an answer for you but unfortunately I can't share it here as I've been warned by the moderation on another thread:

That's a them issue, not a me issue.
As long as I am truthful (I am) and not defamatory (I am not), I can, without fear of reprisal, share information about consumer rights.
An attempt to shut such information down would be a reprisal. Anywho, it was really just a hey, this exist for people that wants to make use of it as we are now far beyond what is reasonable.

 

[BoraBora]

Anywho, it was really just a hey, this exist for people that wants to make use of it as we are now far beyond what is reasonable.

I know it is and it's way more easier than most people imagine, I explained the process here (my post was deleted by the moderation) and on a french forum (where my post was welcomed by the moderation ). Different forums, different rules.

 

[Derigin]

Skylines 1 sold between 10 and 15 million copies, and then had a few dozen DLC on top of that. If the average CS1 customer spent $50 on the game (base+whatever DLCs), that's $500 million in sales over the life of the game. Sure, steam takes 20-30%. Paradox also takes their cut. But if CO had 50 employees and paid them all $100k/year, that's only $5 million/year in expenses. And I don't think CO has ever had that many employees, and probably isn't paying them that amount beyond lead devs given that they're located in Finland.

There's also CS2, which sold between 1-2 million copies. It's $50 and hasn't been on sale too many times since release. That's another $50 million in sales.

Where did all the cash go that they would have to be running Skylines 2 on a shoestring budget? They made too much money for this to be the case, unless they've given up on CS2 and have already internally started on something else... like CS3 and moving away from Unity which is clearly being pushed beyond what it is capable of doing with CS2.

The breakdown is more complicated than that, at least for a typical game studio. Out of the price of the game, the first thing usually siphoned is the platform cost (i.e. Steam). This is typically around 30% on each sale. Then you have the publisher cut, which normally is anywhere between 15-40% of the sale. Then you have taxes. Marketing takes its cut. The cost of renting out an office, equipment, utilities, software licenses is another cut. If the game uses any IP than it will have to pay royalties. Only then do you have the costs associated with hiring developers, artists, engineers, QA, etc. If there's anything left, then that is the profit and the expectation is it gets reinvested, saved, or distributed to shareholders, and so there may be pressure to have some level of profit available regardless.

 

[Black_Shade]

The breakdown is more complicated than that, at least for a typical game studio. Out of the price of the game, the first thing usually siphoned is the platform cost (i.e. Steam). This is typically around 30% on each sale. Then you have the publisher cut, which normally is anywhere between 15-40% of the sale. Then you have taxes. Marketing takes its cut. The cost of renting out an office, equipment, utilities, software licenses is another cut. If the game uses any IP than it will have to pay royalties. Only then do you have the costs associated with hiring developers, artists, engineers, QA, etc. If there's anything left, then that is the profit and the expectation is it gets reinvested, saved, or distributed to shareholders, and so there may be pressure to have some level of profit available regardless.

Yes and I noted most of those in my post... it's still pushing close to a billion in sales over all of their products (CIM 1&2, CS1, CS2). Even if they only get a small slice of that pie, 10% would be enough to fund their studio, rent space, and pay for things like a large unity license for a couple of decades.

There should be no possible way CS2 is running on a skeleton crew of a two devs which is what the post I was quoting claimed.