Cities: Skylines 2 launched too early, says Paradox deputy CEO, but early access wouldn't have been a solution: 'A dev team that thinks they're going to have a nicer ride on an early access game, I think fool themselves'

A modern city.

Cities: Skylines 2 should have been one of Paradox's safest sequels. The blueprint for success already existed, developer Colossal Order had been iterating on the original for years, and the sizable fanbase was buzzing with excitement over the prospect of a new one. It didn't quite work out the way everyone was expecting. 

Performance issues, bugs, the wonkiness of the economic simulation, the absence of modding tools—Cities: Skylines 2 had a rough launch. And despite a lot of fixes and some notable updates, it's still missing things fans were expecting. Even now, more people are playing the original.