Paradox Interactive closes lead Life by You studio, less than 24 hours after abruptly announcing The Sims competitor is canceled

Paradox Interactive is closing down the studio that led the Life by You development effort, less than 24 hours after revealing that the Sims competitor has been canceled.

That comes from a press release from Paradox's media section, which explains that Paradox Tectonic - the wholly owned, California-based studio - is ceasing operations.

"This is difficult and drastic news for our colleagues at Tectonic, who’ve worked hard on Life by You’s Early Access release. Sadly, with cancellation of their sole project, we have to take the tough decision to close down the studio," Paradox Interactive CEO Fredrik Wester says.

"We are deeply grateful for their hard work in trying to take Paradox into a new genre."

At the time of writing, the studio employs 24 people and has led the development of Life by You since 2019.

Life by You was initially penciled in for a September 12 launch in 2023. The Sims-like was then delayed to March 5, 2024, before moving to June 4. That wouldn't be the last, as the next delay would be indefinite before news broke yesterday of the project being cancelled altogether.

"This was an incredibly difficult call to make and is a clear failure on Paradox’s part to meet both our own and the community's expectations," deputy CEO Mattias Lilja admits. 

Lilja goes on to explain that the road to release became "far too long and uncertain," which is why another delay wasn't entertained. While Lilja doesn't go into specifcs about the problems faced, they do note that it was a mistake to let development come this far before pulling the plug.

"Games are difficult to get right," they say, "and we’ll definitely make mistakes, which, as these things go, always become painfully apparent in hindsight, but still shouldn’t reach this kind of magnitude regardless."