Cities: Skylines Studio Splits From Publisher
- Colossal Order is leaving Cities: Skylines II, with Iceflake Studios taking over in 2026.
- Players are skeptical about Iceflake due to its mobile-game background and poor PC track record.
- Cities: Skylines II suffered a rough launch, with performance issues and slow fixes.
- Paradox and Colossal Order faced backlash over paid DLC.
Jump to:
Building a Better City Game
Colossal Order, the Finnish game studio behind the Cities: Skylines series, has parted ways with publisher Paradox Interactive. No reason has been given by either party, with an official news post shared on the sites for both companies accompanied by genial comments from both sides, along with news that Iceflake Studios (also based in Finland) will take over Cities: Skylines development and update duties.
Although players on both the official Paradox forum and on social media have expressed disappointment at the news, Paradox has confirmed that Colossal Order will implement a few more patches before they leave the project.
“Colossal Order will implement a few additional updates before leaving, including the Bike Patch, which includes the long-awaited addition of bikes, Old Town buildings, bug fixes, and general improvements to the game,” Paradox said.
“A Beta implementation of the asset support for the Editor, meaning access to Asset Mods, will also be available before year-end. Iceflake Studios will take the helm for all development from the start of 2026.”
Mobile Devs Get Short Shrift From Gamers
Whereas Colossal Order had always been an independent studio with Paradox as its publisher, Iceflake Studios was acquired by Paradox in July 2020, which does suggest Paradox prefers to work with a studio it owns, since this affords it greater control.
Iceflake is better known for its focus on mobile games, although it did release base-building RTS Surviving the Aftermath in November 2021 on all major platforms. Gamers have expressed skepticism about a studio like this taking on a project as big as Cities: Skylines, as evidenced by multiple comments under Paradox’ FAQ about the news.
“General consensus I’m seeing is doubt that Iceflake is up to the task. Iceflake is primarily a mobile game dev and their one PC game, Surviving the Aftermath, was a huge flop,” reads one comment, which is echoed by many others:
“Early reviews compared it unfavourably to Surviving Mars, and it’s been getting a fair bit of mixed reviews on Steam lately. The rest of Iceflake’s library are mobile games like a fishing simulator and a pool game. I feel apprehensive about how much they’ll be able to handle CS2 going forward, at least since they have to familiarise themselves with all the code.”
Others have pointed out how Iceflake is based in the same Finnish city as Colossal Order, suggesting that there’s some deeper link between the two, but as of this writing this is simply a good indicator of how vibrant the game dev scene is over there.
A Rocky Launch Followed By Regular Speed Bumps
Colossal Order hasn’t escaped criticism from gamers, however. While the first Cities: Skylines was generally heralded as a true spiritual successor to the SimCity series, Cities: Skylines 2 suffered a rough launch thanks to poor performance even on high-end machines, and a lack of features compared to its predecessor.
Issues were compounded by Paradox making an official statement acknowledging this but still deciding to release it anyway:
“Cities: Skylines II is a next-gen title, and naturally, it demands certain hardware requirements. With that said, while our team has worked tirelessly to deliver the best experience possible, we have not achieved the benchmark we targeted,” the publisher stated on its forum.
“In light of this, we still think for the long-term of the project, releasing now is the best way forward. We are proud of the unique gameplay and features in Cities: Skylines II, and we genuinely believe that it offers a great experience that you will enjoy.”
Colossal Order suffered consistent complaints from players after launch, too, as the studio was seen as dragging its feet when it came to releasing patches, fixes, and even content updates. The studios CEO, Mariina Hallikainen, also doubled down on the Paradox forum after launch with “Cities: Skylines II is the better game compared to the first one. If you dislike the simulation, this game just might not be for you.”
DLC Troubles
Both the studio and publisher also came under fire in March 2023, when paid Beach Properties DLC was released. This was an asset pack, with no new game features, and no beaches, but these quirks almost played second fiddle to the fact it was put out when there were still a lot of core issues with the base game.
As such, Colossal Order and Paradox made a joint statement: “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.”
History repeated itself last month when Paradox drew ire for planning to release paid day one DLC for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, which itself suffered troubled production, before bowing to public pressure and adding it for free.
As for Colossal Order, while the studio hasn’t announced its future plans it is leaving Cities: Skylines 2 in a decent state thanks to a huge update released today (Nov. 19). Alongside a sizable list of fixes, players can finally implement bikes and cycle-related infrastructure, as well as a bunch of new buildings.
or
