Cities: Skylines II devs avoided delay to prioritize player enjoyment
Developer Colossal Order recently addressed the performance issues of its newest release, Cities: Skylines II, and its plan to address them. Ahead of the game's release, it previously said it wouldn't reach its own "benchmark target" of 30 FPS in time and is now giving context to current performance troubles.
On the game's official forums, the studio confirmed it'll be able to improve the game's performance with upcoming fixes, and they're "not deeply rooted in the game's foundation." It also explained that it'd previously considered delaying the game but decided it would be "unfair" to players who don't prioritize performance.
In public eyes, PC games tend to live and die based on technological performance. This is especially true for more niche genres like city builders and the performance woes of Cities: Skylines II are reflected in its "mixed" user rating on Steam.
"While some setups on PC have challenges, we concluded the performance is not a dealbreaker for all the players," it wrote. Its first and foremost priority was for players to "have fun with the game. [...] So we wanted to respect the announced release date and allow people to start playing the game."
Upcoming patches, both big and small, will improve default settings and optimize GPU performances to address different areas. At present, Colossal Order recommends that those with low framerates reduce global illumination and decrease their screen resolution to 1080p. They also provided additional tips on their guide page.
Colossal Order's full address of Cities: Skylines II's problems can be read here. Game Developer recently spoke with CEO Mariina Hallikainen about making the game's systems more approachable, which you can also read here.
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