Much-Anticipated The Sims 4 Rival Gets Canceled

Paradox Interactive

By Dominik Bošnjak

Published Jun 17, 2024

Thread 5

Paradox Interactive

Highlights

Life by You has been canceled following some half a decade's worth of development.
Paradox Interactive described the game's cancellation as a "clear failure" on its part to meet expectations, stating that the game was still "lacking in some key areas."
Life by You has long been touted as the first serious The Sims 4 rival in years.

The Sims 4 rival Life by You has been canceled. The game is estimated to have been in development at Paradox Tectonic for about half a decade.

Life by You was originally announced in March 2023. It was supposed to be the debut title from Paradox Interactive's Berkley, California-based Tectonic studio, which was founded in 2019. The game's development was helmed by Rod Humble, former EA EVP who served as the head of The Sims label before departing the company in 2010.

7 Ways Life By You Differs From The Sims Franchise

Paradox's Life By You is clearly inspired by The Sims, but the upcoming game has a few significant differences from EA's iconic series.

Paradox Labels Life by You Cancellation as a 'Clear Failure'

The news of Life by You's cancellation was shared on June 17. Paradox Interactive Deputy CEO Mattias Lilja described the move as a "clear failure" on the company's part to meet fan expectations, as well as its own. Elaborating on the reasons behind this "incredibly difficult" decision, Lilja said that Paradox got caught up in focusing on the details rather than the big picture following the first two Life by You delays, which were announced in September 2023 and March 2024. The latest, mid-May delay hence prompted the company to re-evaluate the entire project instead of setting up new goals targeting incremental improvements, like it did in the past.

Life by You Was 'Lacking in Some Key Areas'

Following weeks' worth of reviews, Paradox decided that Life by You's third delay would also be its last, concluding that it's "better to stop" rather than continue investing in the project, which it found "lacking in some key areas." Despite that harsh assessment, Lilja noted that the game showed "promising qualities" and had a number of strengths, which is why Paradox Interactive kept bankrolling its development for as long as it did.

And while the executive did not elaborate on Life by You's perceived shortcomings, he concluded by characterizing this move as the reality of game development, noting how game cancellations are always a risk that publishers have to accept when embarking on new projects. Nevertheless, the Deputy CEO conceded that mistakes "of this magnitude" shouldn't happen, vowing that the company will think long and hard about what led it to a scenario in which it spent half a decade on a game that it ultimately concluded wasn't worth salvaging.

We have to take a long and hard look at what led us here and see what changes we have to make to become better.

This turn of events is bound to disappoint many a life sim aficionado, not least because Life by You looked like the most serious The Sims challenger in years. It also marks another public failure on Paradox Interactive's part in recent memory, as it arrives shortly after the company faced a lot of fan scrutiny over the lacklustre launch state of Cities Skylines 2 and its first piece of DLC, Beach Properties. The expansion was met with such a negative response from the players over its minimal content and the relatively high price that Paradox Interactive decided to make it free back in April 2024, promising to do better moving forward.