Paradox Interactive and Cities: Skylines developer Colossal Order are going their separate ways, the companies have announced, with ongoing Cities: Skylines II and the franchise in general moving to a separate studio under the Paradox umbrella, Iceflake Studios.
Colossal Order will wrap up on a few updates – the Bike patch, Old Town buildings, bug fixes and more, as well as a beta of the Editor and Asset Mods. Iceflake Studios (who also happen to be based in Tampere, Finland and released Surviving The Aftermath in 2021) will be getting up to speed to take over development from the start of 2026, and will be responsible for free updates, continuous work on the Editor and console editions, and future expansions and content packs.
Mariina Hallikainen, CEO of Colossal Order, writes, “For over fifteen years, the Cities Series and our partnership with Paradox have been a defining part of our journey at Colossal Order. When we set out to create Cities in Motion, we never imagined it would grow to become a cherished franchise with a passionate, loyal community of millions of players around the world. We want to thank everyone at Paradox for their trust and collaboration, and of course the community for the incredible support that has made Cities what it is today. We’re confident that the franchise will continue to thrive under Paradox’s leadership. As we move forward, we’re excited to channel our experience, creativity, and passion into new projects that align with our long-term vision.”
Mattias Lilja, Deputy CEO of Paradox Interactive added, “Our partnership with Colossal Order is one of the longest-running relationships we’ve enjoyed here at Paradox. Four games, dozens of expansions, and a community of millions of Cities players; it’s remarkable how much we’ve achieved together. We have deep respect for the Colossal Order team and we look forward to seeing where they go from here. On our end, we’re eager to continue working for the passionate Cities: Skylines community and make sure to provide them with more content and new experiences.”
And Iceflake Studio Manager Lasse Liljedahl said, “Taking the reins on a genre-leading franchise like Cities is an immense honor and a great responsibility. There’s a huge, loyal community out there and I want to say to every member of that community that we will humbly carry this legacy with respect, together with all of you. Iceflake has the capacity and capability to get started. We have a decade worth of experience from making city building and management games. We see a strong foundation and so much potential waiting to be unleashed and I can’t wait to show you what we have planned for the next chapter of this incredible game.”
After the broad success and popularity of Cities: Skylines, it’s no secret that Colossal Order has grappled with the scope of developing Cities: Skylines II. Originally announced as a cross-platform release, the console versions were delayed and it arrived for PC at the end of 2023 to a wave of dissatisfaction over game optimisation, features and bugs. CO plugged away at the game for the past two years, but had to indefinitely delay the console version, and pushed back and refund DLC. It outwardly looked like the team might have turned a corner, releasing the Bridges & Ports DLC a few weeks ago, but clearly all parties felt it was time for a clean slate.
Hopefully Iceflake is able to quickly get up to speed with the game, and we look forward to seeing what Colossal Order’s next project might be.
Source: Paradox
