Cities: Horizons II Developer Colossal Order has an exceptionally close relationship with its community. The original Cities: horizons It came out in 2015 and swallowed the audience that EA left behind simcitywhich came out in 2013 and was a disaster. Cities: horizons It scratched that urban planning itch, plus it cost only $30. The game came first to PC, Mac, and Linux with modest hardware requirements, and arrived on consoles within two years. Critically, Cities: horizons It also supported modding through the Steam Workshop, allowing players to add their own tools to the game and share those features with others.
“With Cities: horizons, the audience grew in size and modding took on an even bigger role, allowing for a lot of creativity and inspiration for us developers,” Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen told Engadget. “From quality of life improvements to ideas for DLC content, we've collected a wealth of information to help us create the game you want. Cities: horizons is today.”
Colossal Order and its publisher, Paradox Interactive, continued to support Cities: horizons with constant game updates and DLC releases, and its modding community continued to grow. The game attracted a ton of new players during the 2020 pandemic, and around that time, several now-prominent content creators turned to Cities: horizons for broadcasts and videos.
In the months leading up to the release of Cities: Horizons II In October 2023, Colossal Order partnered with a handful of content creators and gave them early access to parts of the game, so they could create YouTube videos showcasing specific features each week. These partners included bifa, two dollars twenty, YUMBL, Infrastructure and Urban planning works. City Planner Plays has a smart advantage in this space: Philip, the man behind the builds, worked as an urban planner for over a decade and his videos often include insights into how real-life cities are designed. He started his channel in mid-2020 and today he is a dedicated Cities: horizons Streamer and video editor with almost 650,000 subscribers on YouTube. Like many other members of the community, he has a history with Colossal Order that spans years.
“Before the Cities: Horizons II launch, I think almost everyone in the community viewed them incredibly positively, seeing them as 'one of us' and the kind of developer you want making a game you love,” Philip said. “They were seen as receptive and generous. …I don’t remember anything bad being said about them.”
That's exactly what he did January 15th so surprising.
“We have seen a growing trend of toxicity in our community, something we have not experienced to this extent before,” Hallikainen wrote, clarifying that the negativity was directed at both developers and players. She continued: “We have always appreciated having the developers present on the different social platforms and having direct communication with the community, but our biggest responsibility will always be to protect the team.”
Tensions have been high in the Cities: Skylines community since the sequel's release in October. Although the game was originally released as a simultaneous release for PC and console, it is only available for PC and there is no time until when the other versions will be released. On top of that, Colossal Order increased the game's minimum and recommended specs just a month before its release, and the new requirements put it out of reach for a large portion of players.
Even with a capable platform, the game is plagued with visual and mechanical bugs. Philip said Cities: Horizons II it strained its RTX 4090 graphics card, running it at 100 percent in the main menu, and couldn't play in 4K at launch because the game was so GPU limited.
Simply put, it seems like the game needed more time in development.
“Since the launch of Cities: Horizons II, things have certainly gotten thornier,” Philip said. “While many people have appreciated Colossal Order's transparency with weekly updates as well as frequent bug fixes, many seem to view Colossal Order as someone very willing to release a game that wasn't ready to be released.”
Hallikainen acknowledged that the game is missing some promised and much-hyped features, such as mod support.
“Naturally, we're disappointed that we couldn't achieve everything we were looking for, but it's great to have the game finally available and to continue working on it more openly,” he said.
The problem, as far as Colossal Order sees it, lies in the community's response to Cities: Horizons II. Players have vented on social media and on the Steam and Paradox forums, and the feedback has escalated to toxic levels, according to Hallikainen. She cites an increase in personal attacks on developers and other players.
“Cities: Horizons II “It attracted a lot of attention and very high expectations were created,” he said. “When the game didn't deliver on all of its promises, it was natural to cause frustration among the public. However, deficiencies should spark conversation about ideas for improvement, constructive feedback, and respectful discussions in the community.”
For City Planner Plays and other community members, the problem is the game itself. Where Colossal Order sees toxicity, Philip sees justified frustration.
“I admit that I was surprised by this description of what is happening in the Cities: horizons community regarding Cities: Horizons II,” he said. “I've noticed increased negativity. However, I wouldn't say I've noticed increased toxicity. And, bluntly, I think the negativity is completely understandable and predictable.”
Philip identified four factors driving the negative sentiment: the game is only on PC, it is buggy and unplayable on many common hardware configurations, there is no official support for mods, and Colossal Order has not taken responsibility for the game's bugs.
“Colossal Order has been transparent and spoken to the community, but has not taken responsibility for the release of the game,” Philip said. “I hear this over and over again. Many players seem to want them to admit that the game's launch state was poor, say they're sorry, and make some gesture to make amends. To date, they have delayed the release of the DLC, which was actually very negative for people who bought the Ultimate Edition of the game, but didn't make amends. (They have not) provided the information that people are looking for.”
The biggest misstep on Philip's list is the lack of mods. Colossal Order plans to add an official channel for mods directly through Paradox, instead of the Steam Workshop, which was the home of mods in Cities: horizons. The move to an internal modding platform will ensure parity across all platforms, bringing mods to consoles and players outside of Steam. However, the Cities: Skylines mod community was built on the Steam Workshop, a popular and easy-to-use platform, and with the console launch delayed, the current player base is simply suffering a handicap.
“The maps that come with the game aren't great (incredibly high difficulty level, unforgiving weather) and a lot of basic features need refining,” Philip said. “The modifications offered that opportunity and are not yet available. Worst of all, early messages made it seem like the mod was just around the corner, weeks after launch (but delayed) to some undetermined time in the second quarter of 2024.”
Collaboration with the community is what made the original game so successful, and the sequel could certainly benefit from collaborative improvements. For now, some players are using a third-party tool to make mods work on Cities: Horizons II.
“The technology is new, the simulation has been completely rewritten and the game has all the potential to become the city builder of this decade,” Hallikainen said. “Where we failed was getting modding support available for launch, and we're doing everything we can to catch up. “We are delighted to see that the modding community has not waited for us, but is already creating incredible mods for the game.”
This is just the beginning for Cities: Horizons II. Colossal Order plans to support and expand the game over the next 10 years. The original Cities: horizons It didn't have all the bells and whistles when it first came out in 2015, and the sequel starts in a similar position. colossal order sees Cities: Horizons II as a new base, but its core community expected a more complete experience.
“The feedback we have received from content creators and modders has helped us tremendously to go in the right direction and we love working in cooperation with different parties,” said Hallikainen. “There is a lot of work to do and we plan to continue for the next decade.”
Cities: Horizons II has improved significantly in the months since its release, thanks to a host of Colossal Order updates. You are on the right track. colossal order updates on the game's progress every week, but it will take time (and maybe an apology, a plan, and free in-game perks) to rewrite the narrative. Cities: Horizons II.
“I think the most 'toxic' people right now are the biggest fans of the game,” Philip said. “And bluntly, they're just disappointed because the game isn't going well for them or because they can't play it at all. They are disappointed and lash out, which is not right. But to me, that means there is a path to fixing the problems if the game is fully fixed and held accountable.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/whats-up-with-the-toxicity-around-cities-skylines-ii-213034938.html?src=rss
