It was evident from the game’s own screenshots that it wouldn’t be a financial success; it looked like a shabby, outdated mess.
Many claim to be creating a game to rival EA’s “The Sims,” but few deliver. Publishers Paradox Interactive and developers Paradox Tectonic had been working on their life simulation game, “Life by You,” for several years.
Unfortunately, it faced three separate delays. The most recent delay occurred just as “Life by You” was set to launch as an early access title on June 4th. However, it was delayed indefinitely, and now the game has been canceled.
Paradox Tectonic’s developers, led by Rod Humble, who previously worked at Electronic Arts and Linden Labs (the creators of Second Life), seem to have drawn inspiration from his past experiences, resulting in characters in Life by You that are disturbingly ugly.
Aside from a simple trailer and a few carefully selected in-game screenshots, Paradox Interactive has shown little of Life by You. Despite being marketed as a “modern” game, it appears sloppy, with character models that look dated and lack detail, making them unpleasant to look at.
Overall, the game seems like a poorly executed Sims knock-off using Unity asset packs.
The game was initially set to launch on June 4th but faced its third and final delay. Paradox Interactive’s CEO, Fredrik Wester, released a statement on the company’s website explaining the decision.
Paradox claimed they saw potential in their game, but ultimately, none of that “potential” was evident in its marketing. The game’s last-minute cancellation was attributed to it “not meeting” their expectations.
Meanwhile, The Sims continues to dominate the life simulation genre, with EA profiting immensely from numerous DLC expansion packs.
Paradox has faced other recent setbacks as well. Their release of Cities Skylines 2 was met with widespread criticism due to severe optimization issues and the fact that the game itself is merely a large scale standalone DLC expansion for the first game.
For a city simulator with hundreds, if not thousands, of these pixelated NPCs, such unnecessary detail severely impacted performance.
EA’s The Sims 4, released in 2014, has remained a staple in life simulation games for nearly a decade. However, the supposed competitor in Life by You, appears surprisingly outdated and lacks the modern advancements expected from a new title.
This is not an isolated incident of developers scrapping projects close to release. For instance, SEGA recently canceled its game, HYENAS, a drag queen space heist shooter just days after its public beta ended, despite the game being slated for release later in the year.
For those seeking a genuine competitor to EA’s monopoly, KRAFTON’s “InZOI” is progressing well. It’s poised to become the most realistic life simulation game to date, surpassing both Electronic Arts and Paradox in terms of the detailed overworld and especially the intricate character models.
