Paradox Interactive has cancelled Sims rival Life By You

Paradox Interactive has cancelled Sims rival Life By You, weeks after delaying the game indefinitely.

The company’s deputy CEO, Mattias Lilja, announced the game’s cancellation on Paradox’s forums on Monday.

“Sadly, we’ve decided to cancel the release of our long-awaited life sim Life by You,” he said.

“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.”

Life By You was to be the debut title from Paradox Tectonic, a studio established in 2019 and headed by Rod Humble, the former boss of EA’s The Sims label and the ex-CEO of Second Life creator Linden Lab.

The game was originally scheduled to launch in Early Access in September 2023, before it was delayed to March 2024 and then pushed back again to June.

In late April, Paradox issued a press release stating that the game was “ready for early access”, but three weeks later it delayed the game indefinitely.

“A few weeks back, we decided to hold off on an Early Access release in order to re-evaluate Life by You, as we still felt that the game was lacking in some key areas,” Lilja said. “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.

“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.”

In April, Paradox announced that customers who purchased Cities Skylines 2’s first DLC would be refunded, with the content set to be added to the base game for free after being “rushed out” in an unsatisfactory state.

Future paid DLC, and the game’s console version, were also delayed again.