The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled
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Re: The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled
#2"Developed by the Helsinki-based Colossal Order" -> Tampere-based? (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Order)
Re: The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled
#3I still don't know why we needed a sequel... Couldn't they just keep working on the original game, which already worked really well and lots of people loved? I had similar feelings about kerbal space program, but at least there it's somewhat understandable, given the jank that crept in over time
Re: The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled
#4The story is familiar: small team nails a niche, publisher scales expectations, sequel inherits AAA scope without AAA staff. Ten years later we call it "mismanagement", but really it's the same incentive loop that breaks most creative partnerships once success hits Excel.
Re: The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled
#5I still don't know why we needed a sequel... Couldn't they just keep working on the original game, which already worked really well and lots of people loved? I had similar feelings about kerbal space program, but at least there it's somewhat understandable, given the jank that crept in over time
There definitely were improvements to be made in both KSP (physics of large vessels) and CS (FPS in large cities).
Instead we get this... 0/2
Re: The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled
#6I still don't know why we needed a sequel... Couldn't they just keep working on the original game, which already worked really well and lots of people loved? I had similar feelings about kerbal space program, but at least there it's somewhat understandable, given the jank that crept in over time
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Re: The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled
#7I still don't know why we needed a sequel... Couldn't they just keep working on the original game, which already worked really well and lots of people loved? I had similar feelings about kerbal space program, but at least there it's somewhat understandable, given the jank that crept in over time
Development teams are expensive to fund, and people who have bought a game will pay full price for a sequel, but won’t pay full price for updates/DLC.
And releasing a sequel gets you hype and press coverage - potentially expanding your customer base - in a way that releasing updates won’t.
There are some exceptions (No Man’s Sky?) but they are very few and far between.
Re: The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled
#8I still don't know why we needed a sequel... Couldn't they just keep working on the original game, which already worked really well and lots of people loved? I had similar feelings about kerbal space program, but at least there it's somewhat understandable, given the jank that crept in over time
Both could definitely have used a completely updated engine at the very least (not just graphics, but scaling/capabilities around the core gameplay had grown quite a bit beyond what made sense originally), which would enable a lot of things which weren't as feasible in the original games, but it's hard to do that kind of reset and match 10 years of building and tweaking on the original. Hopefully KSA (Kitten Space Agency) can have better luck.
Re: The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled
#9I still don't know why we needed a sequel... Couldn't they just keep working on the original game, which already worked really well and lots of people loved? I had similar feelings about kerbal space program, but at least there it's somewhat understandable, given the jank that crept in over time
Development teams are expensive to fund, and people who have bought a game will pay full price for a sequel, but won’t pay full price for updates/DLC. And releasing a sequel gets you hype and press coverage - potentially expanding your customer base - in a way that releasing updates won’t. There are some exceptions (No Man’s Sky?) but they are very few and far between.
Well ok, I know "value to shareholders" is a good enough reason for some people... I guess I'm not thinking capitalistically enough about stuff
Re: The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled
#10The collapse of AAA is a parallel sim game-narrative.