Cities: Skylines II will be released next week, but its performance and optimization may not be as great as its PC system requirements may have hinted. In a new post shared on the official Paradox Forum, developer Colossal Order Ltd. admitted that the game currently suffers from “performance issues,” and while players may experience such issues at launch, the devs will be releasing the game anyway because it is “very proud” of the game and believes this to be “the best way forward.” Cities: Skylines II will be released for PC via Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 for a suggested retail price of $49.99 / £41.99 / €49.99. It will also be available on Game Pass as a day-one title.
“We’ve taken the long-term vision of the project into account and feel that a release now is the right step,” reads a portion of Paradox’s FAQ regarding Cities: Skylines II’s mods and performance. “Cities: Skylines II presents features a gameplay that we’re very proud of and despite that the game is performance heavy, we believe it will be an experience you’ll truly appreciate.”
“We have determined a few graphic settings that have minimal impact on the player experience but increase performance significantly,” Paradox added. “We will provide more details shortly. Should you face any performance issues at launch, these configurations will be our top recommendations!”
…we’ve noticed the concerns raised about Cities: Skylines II performance, especially after our previous statement with raised minimum and recommended specs. As we’ve always believed in transparency, we’d like to further shed some light on the current state of the build.
Cities: Skylines II is a next-gen title, and naturally, it demands certain hardware requirements. With that said, while our team has worked tirelessly to deliver the best experience possible, we have not achieved the benchmark we targeted.
In light of this, we still think for the long-term of the project, releasing now is the best way forward. We are proud of the unique gameplay and features in Cities: Skylines II, and we genuinely believe that it offers a great experience that you will enjoy.
We will continually improve the game over the coming months, but we also want to manage expectations on performance for the coming release. Our ambition is for Cities: Skylines II to be enjoyed by as many players as possible, and we’re committed to ensuring it reaches its full potential.