City builder fans got into a bit of a tizzy after one questionable comment from Mariina Hallikainen, CEO of developer Colossal Order, suggested that players would just have to get used to the gameplay issues of Cities: Skylines 2.
"When it comes to the gameplay and simulation we set goals for the game and we have reached those goals," Hallikainen said in a comment on the game's official forums. "Surely there are issues that we're looking into and fixing bugs, but the overall gameplay experience is what we aimed for. Cities: Skylines 2 is the better game compared to the first one. If you dislike the simulation, this game just might not be for you."
The issues with Cities: Skylines 2 are primarily technical, its most egregious shortcomings related to its performance and visuals. However, players have been raising concerns about the limitations of the simulation since launch. Some of those problems are due to bugs, but with a game as complex as Cities: Skylines 2, it's almost impossible to tell what limitations come from bugs and what are a result of poor design.
With all that in mind, Hallikainen's comment pretty quickly rubbed players the wrong way. "What an incredibly out of touch thing to say to your player base, given the state of their game," as one Reddit user put it. "Why did the CEO post this? At first I thought the OP just snipped that line out of context for rage fuel, but this is a seriously strange post on behalf of CO," another said.
Hallikainen pretty quickly backed off of that statement, saying "I apologize for the formulation of my response above. My intent was to point out that while we do our best to improve the game we will never be able to please absolutely everyone. We are fixing bugs and improving the game combining our vision with the feedback and bug reports we're getting from you, the community."
She went on to note that "it's disappointing we weren't able to meet the expectations that were set by the stellar marketing campaign and the success of the first game. However working together with you is the best part of creating games, and together we can make Cities: Skylines 2 the best it can be. I truly believe that."
I also believe this can be a great game - I said as much in my broadly negative Cities: Skylines 2 review - but failing to "meet the expectations that were set by the stellar marketing campaign" is maybe a bigger deal than Hallikainen is giving it credit for. This is the same kind of thing we've seen with launches like that of Cyberpunk 2077, and while gaming fandom has proven that it loves a comeback story, I've got to wonder how much patience for redemption arcs is still out there.
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