Cities Skylines 2 publisher warns the city builder may run poorly at launch, but it won't delay it: "We have not achieved the benchmark we targeted"

gamesradar.com:

Cities: Skylines 2 has fallen short of publisher Paradox Interactive's technical expectations, but will still release on PC this month as planned.

In a forum statement posted earlier today, Paradox stated it had "noticed the concerns raised about Cities: Skylines 2 performance, especially after our previous statement with raised minimum and recommended specs." The studio says that in an attempt at transparency, "we'd like to further shed some light on the current state of the build."

With the caveat that "Cities: Skylines II is a next-gen title [that] demands certain hardware requirements," Paradox says that "while our team has worked tirelessly to deliver the best experience possible, we have not achieved the benchmark we targeted."

Despite that, however, the studio says that "we still think for the long-term of the project, releasing now is the best way forward." It pledges to "continually improve the game over the coming months," stating that "we're committed to ensuring it reaches its full potential."

Cities: Skylines 2 releases next Tuesday, October 24, and while nothing official has yet been released or discussed about the game or its performance, Paradox's statement suggests that comments have been made behind the scenes or concerns have been shared by players put off by the game's recommended specs. It's hard to read this statement any other way than a publisher getting ahead of known, impending launch issues which will be patched over the course of "the coming months." 

Fans were already worried enough after raised PC specs and delayed Cities: Skylines 2 console ports also implied performance issues. The PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game have been pushed back by several months, to an unspecified spring