Highlights
- The console versions of Cities: Skylines 2 have been delayed for the second time in seven months.
- The game is now targeting a Q4 2024 release for its Xbox Series X/S and PS5 ports.
- The Series X/S versions are still planned to be made available on Xbox Game Pass from day one. PC Game Pass users have been able to play Cities: Skylines 2 since October 2023.
The console version of Cities: Skylines 2 has received yet another delay, which will prevent it from reaching Xbox and PlayStation users until at least late 2024. This is the second major postponement that the Cities: Skylines 2 console ports have suffered in the past seven months.
Colossal Order’s latest city builder has long been enduring development challenges, having initially been planned to hit the market in late 2020. Following numerous delays, Cities: Skylines 2 finally reached PC and Xbox Game Pass in October 2023. However, its console ports were pushed back to spring 2024, with Colossal Order citing optimization challenges as the main reason for the postponement.
Cities: Skylines 2 Players Aren’t Happy With New Beach Properties DLC
Many Cities: Skylines 2 players aren’t happy with the new Beach Properties DLC, expressing dissatisfaction with the latest addition to the game.
Cities: Skylines 2 Xbox, PS5 Ports Now Targeting Q4 2024 Release
Seven months following that previous Cities: Skylines 2 delay, the game’s console version has now been pushed back yet again. “We have been struggling to get Cities: Skylines 2 to the necessary level of optimization for a console release,” wrote Colossal Order in an April 18 post on Paradox Interactive Forums. But the Finnish studio did manage to make some inroads in recent times, and is now “hopeful” that the latest version of the city builder will prove stable and performant enough to serve as the basis for a console release candidate. Should everything go according to this newly revised plan, the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 versions of the game will debut in October 2024.
Colossal Order’s delay announcement was part of a more comprehensive post that was largely focused on responding to the player backlash over the Cities: Skylines 2 Beach Properties DLC. The move saw the Finnish studio apologize to the fandom; “we let you down,” a company representative wrote, in addition to revealing that the widely panned DLC will be changed to a free add-on, whereas its buyers will be refunded to any extent possible.
We have been struggling to get Cities: Skylines 2 to the necessary level of optimization for a console release.
Specifically, those who purchased it as part of the Ultimate Edition of Cities: Skylines 2 will not be able to receive a refund. They will instead be treated to three extra Creator Packs and just as many radio stations that are planned to be released in the future, and whose total retail value will be equivalent to the $40 difference between the base game and its higher-tier edition.
As for the game’s console version, Colossal Order plans to commit to a concrete launch date once it has verified the quality of its latest release candidate, which will ostensibly happen by summer 2024. The studio noted that the team working on the PC version of Cities: Skylines 2 is separate from the console staff, so its efforts to keep refining the game and its controversial DLC pack will not necessarily slow down the development of the city builder’s Xbox and PlayStation ports.
Cities: Skylines 2
Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive’s Cities: Skylines 2 builds on the foundations of its 2015 predecessor. Prioritizing realism, the city-building sim offers a deep economic system and an ever-changing world driven by player choice and creativity.
- Released
- October 24, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Colossal Order
- Genre(s)
- City Builder
