Update: Life By You studio Paradox Tectonic shut down

Update, June 19, 2024: Paradox Interactive has shuttered Paradox Tectonic, affecting 24 employees.

"This is difficult and drastic news for our colleagues at Tectonic, who've worked hard on Life By You's early access release," said Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester. "Sadly, with the cancellation of their sole project we have had 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."

Original story, June 18, 2024: Paradox Interactive has cancelled its upcoming life sim Life By You.

The publisher's deputy CEO Mattias Lilja shared the news on the Paradox Forum, citing that the game didn't meet its or the community's expectations.

"Life By You has been in the works for a long time and we've been very excited about the promise and the potential of this game," Lilja wrote. "We opted to delay it twice, to give the studio and the game a fair shot at realising the potential we saw.

"For each delay we made, we've seen incremental improvements, which in hindsight may well have led us to focus on details rather than the whole picture."

Lilja went on to explain why its latest early access release, set for June 4, and said that the studio felt the game was "lacking in some key areas."

"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."

Life By You was to be the debut title for Paradox Tectonic, an internal studio formed in 2019 and led by former Electronic Arts executive vice president Rod Humble.

The game was announced in March 2023, with an initial early access release date slated for later that year. This was delayed three times.