Life By You canceled after being delayed indefinitely

It's the end of the road for this one.

A character sitting in a house in Life By You.
Image via Paradox Interactive

Following three delays and an indefinite postponement for early access, Paradox Interactive announced today that it has now decided to completely scrap Life By You instead of continuing to develop this project further.

Recommended Videos

This sudden switch-up is pretty shocking considering Life By You was originally expected to enter early access on June 4 before it was postponed indefinitely on May 20. The devs cited a “failure” on their part to meet their “own and the community’s expectations” as the reason for this sudden decision.

A character wearing a pizza shirt standing surrounded by balloons in Life By You.
I was really looking forward to another life simulation game. Image via Paradox Interactive

“It became clear to us that the road leading to a release that we felt confident about was far too long and uncertain,” the deputy CEO of Paradox Interactive, Mattias Lilja, said in the statement regarding the permanent cancellation of Life By You.

Despite this, the devs are also adamant that Life By You had a lot of “promising qualities” that just couldn’t and wouldn’t be realized without massive investment and that more time just wouldn’t get them to a version they were fully satisfied with.

The life sim has been through quite a few delays, but before this, there was never any indication that the game had any possibility of never being released at all. We even got to test it out and thought Life By You was a life sim to watch that could be decent competition for The Sims 5, but today’s announcement means it’s done for good now.

The statement makes it clear this isn’t another indefinite postponement or a possible rework of the project over years to come. Instead, Life By You is officially over before it ever really began and the team is moving on to other games.

“We have to take a long and hard look at what led us here and see what changes we have to make to become better,” Lilja said to end the Life By You cancellation statement. “In the end, our mission remains the same, and we’ll continue to take whatever steps we need to do just that.”

Author
Image of Kacee Fay
Kacee Fay
Staff Writer at Dot Esports covering new releases and a wide array of topics including Minecraft, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Phasmophobia, general gaming, streaming, and more. She has been avidly writing and gaming her whole life and now spends her time combining the two. Kacee graduated from San Diego State University in 2021 with a Bachelor’s Degree in English and a Certificate in Creative Editing and Publishing. She then joined Dot Esports as a Freelance Writer in 2022 before transitioning to a Staff Writer in 2023. In her spare time, she enjoys buying more books than she can read, gaming alone or with friends, drinking too much tea, attending concerts, fangirling over movies and television, listening to music, and spending time with her family, friends, and pets, who are the most important parts of her world.