The highly-anticipated Sims competitor Life by You, which Paradox was producing, has been officially canceled. Despite being unreleased, Life by You has gained a fan base who waited patiently for its release. However, Paradox announced they are canceling it. On June 17, an official statement was released by Paradox to announce that Life by You is canceled. Before being canceled, the game’s early access launch has been delayed several times. The first date set for the early access release was in September 2023. It was then delayed to March 2024 then delayed again till June. The final update before Life by You was canceled was in May. At that time, it was announced that the game has been delayed indefinitely.
In the statement released, Mattias Lilja, the Deputy CEO of Paradox Interactive, detailed the reasons behind the company’s decision. Lilja has described the decision as “a clear failure on Paradox’s part.” Despite the cancelation, Lilja has praised Life by You in the statement saying that it had potential. This potential made the studio decide to delay the game as a way to “give the studio and the game a fair shot at realizing the potential” Paradox saw. Despite that potential, Lilja states that all the delays won’t have made them reach a version of Life by You that Paradox “would be satisfied with.” In another statement, Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive, said that it became clear how Life by You “will not be able to meet our expectations.”
A few weeks back, we decided to hold off on an Early Access release in order to re-evaluate Life by You, as we still felt that the game was lacking in some key areas. Though a time extension was an option, once we took that pause to get a wider view of the game, it became clear to us that the road leading to a release that we felt confident about was far too long and uncertain.
-Mattias Lilja
Paradox Closed Down Life by You Studio
After Life by You was canceled, many speculated on what will happen to Paradox Tectonic, the internal studio that was developing the game. Soon enough, Paradox also announced that they are closing down Paradox Tectonic. The Life by You studio had 24 employees who have been working on the game since 2019. Rod Humble, former Sims studio head, led the team behind the long-awaited game. Wester has released another statement this time regarding closing the Life by You studio. Wester explained the decision by saying “with cancellation of their sole project we have to take the tough decision to close down the studio.” Despite the cancelation of Life by You, there are other games that compete with The Sims. Two examples are InZoi and Paralives with both still unreleased. The competition is needed even with The Sims introducing new features such as events.
Source: Official statement
