“We were told two weeks ago that we wouldn’t release it.” The Sims Life by You competitor is almost ready, and no one understands its cancellation – Life by You
Although it is true that we are talking about a project that had three delays accumulated, no one expected that Paradox I will definitely cancel Life by You; simulator in style Sims whose goal was to compete with the EA franchise by giving players complete creative freedom. There are not many details given about the reasons for this decision, other than that it was made after an exhaustive review of the design, but one of the designers indicates that the situation is more complicated than it seems. Because just a few days ago everything was going “very well” with the development of the game.
Willem Delventhal, who took part in the creation of Life by You as a designer, spoke about this. LinkedIn post (by using GamesRadar+): “Today I am sad to announce that for the second time in two years my game was canceled and I was fired. And this time it was a shit show“,” the post begins. “I have known for a long time that we could be closed. We have been actively working on a modded life simulator called Life by You. An indie answer to the aging Sims IP, but focused primarily on user-generated content.”
“As far as we knew, we were doing very well,” continues the professional. “I can’t give specific numbers, but I can say that we had an internal number that we were looking for, which was approved, and that we significantly exceeded that number. we get approval a few weeks before launch.” However, shortly before the cancellation announcement was released, things went awry: “So, two weeks before the launch we were told that we would not launch it. And now we’ve all lost our jobs. We were informed of this through a public statement.”
“They didn’t tell us why. Instead, we spent a month in purgatory and did everything we could to show them that it was worth running, including things like finding potential buyers or offering to cut ties and become independent,” Delventhal’s message continues. “We heard virtually no response.”
“I was warned not to write anything about this experience.”
For Delventhal, what happened with Life by You is no different from other cancellations in the industry. In fact, the designer has his own theories about this: “I was warned not to write anything about this experience. That this could harm my future career and that I could even be sued. I decided to ignore these warnings.” – he continues on the publication page. “To be honest, I have some guesses about what happened. And while I can’t theorize, I’m sure you have your guesses too. As a business owner, Some of them are clear, but many are not.. “We were a solid team with a solid project ready to be released to a solid audience.”
This scenario is not common in the video game industry. However, there are already many teams facing cancellation despite the game being almost ready: “The industry has become a place where you can give more than they expect, have an AA budget that supports you, and even then case Everything is canceled two weeks before the launch.“Perhaps over time Paradox will decide to restore Life by You and release it once and for all. However, all indications are that this life simulator will be forgotten in a drawer.
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