“It’s disappointing we weren’t able to meet the expectations that were set by the stellar marketing campaign”
City builders went into a frenzy after one dubious comment from Mariina Hallikainen, CEO of developer Colossal Order, implying that players would simply have to get used to Cities: Skylines 2’s gameplay issues.
“When it comes to the gameplay and simulation we set goals for the game and we have reached those goals,” Hallikainen stated this in a post on the game’s official forums. “Surely there are issues that we’re looking into and fixing bugs, but the overall gameplay experience is what we aimed for. Cities: Skylines 2 is the better game compared to the first one. If you dislike the simulation, this game just might not be for you.”
The problems with Cities: Skylines 2 are primarily technical, with the most egregious flaws relating to performance and visuals. However, players have been complaining about the simulation’s limitations since its release. Some of these issues are caused by bugs, but with a game as complex as Cities: Skylines 2, it’s nearly impossible to tell which limitations are caused by bugs and which are caused by poor design.
With all of that in mind, Hallikainen’s remark quickly irritated players. As one Reddit user put it, “What an incredibly out of touch thing to say to your player base, given the state of their game,” “Why did the CEO post this? At first I thought the OP just snipped that line out of context for rage fuel, but this is a seriously strange post on behalf of CO,” another user commented.
Hallikainen quickly retracted her statement, saying “I apologize for the formulation of my response above. My intent was to point out that while we do our best to improve the game we will never be able to please absolutely everyone. We are fixing bugs and improving the game combining our vision with the feedback and bug reports we’re getting from you, the community.”
She went on to say “It’s disappointing we weren’t able to meet the expectations that were set by the stellar marketing campaign and the success of the first game. However working together with you is the best part of creating games, and together we can make Cities: Skylines 2 the best it can be. I truly believe that.”
However, failing to “meet the expectations that were set by the stellar marketing campaign” may be a bigger deal than Hallikainen realizes. With all of that said and done, it’s becoming a habit for games to be released when they aren’t ready or finished.