Cities Skylines 2 dev announces split from Paradox, new studio will take over development

Paradox Interactive suffers another setback as it announces it is parting ways with Cities Skylines 2 developer Colossal Order. The developer has been working on the series for 15 years, beginning with 2011's Cities in Motion. This comes in the wake of poor reviews for both Surviving Mars: Relaunched and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, which have 41% and 56% positive feedback on Steam respectively. Europa Universalis 5 was much better received, but the publisher will now have to reassess how it approaches Cities DLC with a new studio at the helm.

Cities Skylines 2 is a mainstay on our list of the best city building games available now, and Paradox's constant tide of DLC keeps things interesting for players year on year. However, that may be about to change.

Former Cities developer Colossal Order put out a joint statement with Paradox on the Paradox Plaza forum, in which it thanked the publisher and the fans for supporting its endeavors in the genre. However, CEO Mariina Hallikainen also says it is, "excited to channel our experience, creativity, and passion into new projects that align with our long-term vision."

Speaking on behalf of Paradox, deputy CEO Mattias Lilja says that it's "remarkable" how much the partnership has achieved, before saying that the publisher is "eager to continue working for the passionate Cities: Skylines community and make sure to provide them with more content and new experiences."

The new developer taking over from Colossal will be Iceflake Studios, one of Paradox's existing "internal management game studios." Colossal will continue to work on the forthcoming bike patch and Old Town buildings until the end of the year, and Iceflake will take over in 2026.

According to a separate FAQ document, Iceflake's duties will include "patches and polish for the current version, continuous work on the Editor and console editions, as well as future expansions and content packs." Paradox is also at pains to state that, "the core identity of Cities: Skylines 2 will remain unchanged."

Iceflake's experience is mostly in the mobile arena, having developed endless runner Pirates Don't Run and fishing sim Ice Lakes. On PC, it has made games like Premium Pool Arena and Race Arcade, a pool simulator and a top-down racing game.

Its one foray into the city building genre is Surviving the Aftermath, which received middling reviews and landed a rating of 69 on Metacritic. While that's a simplistic metric to judge an entire studio by, especially as the average is taken from just four critics' reviews, the game has a 53% positive rating on Steam in the last month, which could be a worrying sign for Cities Skylines fans.

Whatever the future holds for Cities Skylines 2, expect a transitional period as Paradox adjusts to a new developer taking control of the strategic title.