Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester stated, “This is difficult and drastic news for our colleagues at Tectonic, who worked hard on Life by You’s Early Access release. Sadly, with the cancellation of their sole project, we have to take the tough decision to close down the studio. We are deeply grateful for their hard work in trying to take Paradox into a new genre.”

Announced in March 2023, Life by You would have been a competitor to EA’s The Sims, especially with Rod Humble, former head of The Sims label, leading development. Some noteworthy features included an open world with no loading screens with real-language conversations, Creator Tools to make content, direct control of humans in third-person and much more.

It was slated to launch into early access for PC in September 2023 but faced several delays. On its most recent, Paradox announced an indefinite delay to take a “wider view” of the project, which led to its recent cancellation.

Though it could have offered more time to improve the title, Paradox deputy CEO Mattias Lilja said that “when we come to a point where we believe that more time will not get us close enough to a version we would be satisfied with, then we believe it is better to stop.” Lilja acknowledged the title’s strengths and praised “the hard work of a dedicated team that went into realizing them.”

Explaining Life by You’s cancellation, Lilja explained that following the recent indefinite delay for the game’s early access version, Paradox Interactive took “a wider view” of the project, following which the company realized that though the game had seen “incremental improvements” following the delays it had been hit with, it was still too far away from being at a level of quality that the company would have been satisfied with.

“A few weeks back, we decided to hold off on an Early Access release in order to re-evaluate Life by You, as we still felt that the game was lacking in some key areas,” Lilja wrote. “Though a time extension was an option, once we took that pause to get a wider view of the game, it became clear to us that the road leading to a release that we felt confident about was far too long and uncertain.”

“This is not to say the game has not shown any promising qualities; Life by You had a number of strengths and the hard work of a dedicated team that went into realizing them,” Lilja continues. “However, when we come to a point where we believe that more time will not get us close enough to a version we would be satisfied with, then we believe it is better to stop. This is obviously tough and disappointing for everyone who poured their time and enthusiasm into this project, especially when our decision comes so late in the process.”

How the game’s cancellation will affect its development team at Paradox Tectonic remains to be seen. The company will hopefully be providing further details on that front in the coming days and weeks. Stay tuned for all the updates.

In a message published on the official Paradox Interactive forums, deputy CEO Mattias Lilja announced that Life by You’s early access release has been delayed indefinitely. Lilja’s message does not mention any concrete details on why the game was delayed, nor is there any mention of a new release date or window, with Lilja says the team is instead choosing to remain quiet for now while it formulates its plans.

“After much consideration, we regret to announce that we have decided to retract Life by You’s Early Access release date, previously set for June 4th,” Lilja’s message reads. “This was not an easy decision, especially since we understand the anticipation and excitement that many players have for the game. However, we believe that additional development time is needed.

“While we would have preferred to commit to a new release window, we believe it is more prudent to hold off while we plan ahead, rather than committing to a new date that we cannot be certain to meet.

“We will provide more information as soon as possible, until then we want to sincerely thank you for your continued support and patience.”

Life by You is in development for PC. Upon launch, it’ll be available via Steam and Epic Games Store. There’s no word yet on any potential console versions down the line.

Paradox Interactive’s Life By You, its Sims-like life simulator, will have a developer presentation. Bloober Team’s Layers of Fear, a remake of the first two games and the Inheritance DLC with new content, is getting a new trailer, while Ironwood Studios’ rogue-lite driving survival game Pacific Drive will receive a “new look.”

There will also be some VR titles, including VR Skater and Sega’s C-Smash VRS, a reimagined version of Cosmic Smash from the Dreamcast era. Over 50 games will be at the showcase, with a segment devoted to demos that will be playable after, so stay tuned for plenty of new details.