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Developer of Canceled The Sims Competitor Life By You Says Team Was Doing "Extremely Well"

The game was shut down two weeks before its launch.

A couple of days ago, we received the news that Paradox Interactive's life simulation game, Life by You, was canceled and its developer Paradox Tectonic closed down. The decision was a shock for both the players who were looking forward to the "hyper-moddable" Sims competitor and the developers themselves, according to Willem Delventhal, one of its creators.

Delventhal expressed his frustration on LinkedIn and said that the team was doing "extremely well": "We had an internal metric we were aiming for that had been approved, and that we exceeded that number by a significant portion. We also got a thumbs up a few weeks before launch."

However, 2 weeks before the release, everything was thrown into the bin, and employees were left without jobs. According to Delventhal, they were only informed via a public announcement and weren't told the reason behind the rapid action.

"Instead we spent a month in purgatory, and did everything we could to prove to them we were worth launching, including things like finding potential buyers or suggesting cutting ties and going indie. We heard virtually nothing back."

Paradox Tectonic

"This industry has become a place in which you can deliver more than expected, have AA money behind you, and still have the rug pulled two weeks before launch," he concluded.

It's hard to disagree considering the number of games canceled recently. Nobody is safe from the ruthless corporate machine. Delventhal has an idea why the project was shut down, but he didn't share it due to possible legal actions. He only said that Life by You was a strong project "ready to launch to a strong audience."

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