Cities: Skylines 2's first DLC went down so badly it's free now, and the city builder devs have delayed the next expansion to focus on fixing everything else

Cities: Skylines 2 is still having a very rough time, to the point where every player who bought the recent Beach Properties DLC will soon be offered compensation, and its devs are delaying the Bridges and Ports Expansion as well as the console release of the base game.

Sadly for fans of the city builder, complaints surrounding Cities: Skylines 2 are hardly new, as when it launched on PC last year, it was heavily criticized for its performance issues. Unfortunately, six months on, the team behind it has now issued an apology regarding its recent Beach Properties Asset Pack, which launched last month, tempting players to experiment with waterfront buildings such as beachfront cottages. However, with an 'Overwhelmingly Negative' rating on Steam, it's clear to see that it didn't go down well, with many players expressing frustration about the lack of content included. 

In a new forum post, the CEO of developer Colossal Order, Mariina Hallikainen, and the deputy CEO of publisher Paradox Interactive, Mattias Lilja, say the team "rushed out a DLC" in an attempt to make up for the disappointment surrounding the base game. It says: "We asked for your patience and support, and you’ve shown those. In return, we let you down.

"We thought we could make up for the shortcomings of the game in a timeframe that was unrealistic, and rushed out a DLC that should not have been published in its current form," it states. "For all this, we are truly sorry. When we’ve made statements like this one before, it’s included a pledge to keep making improvements, and while we are working on these updates, they haven’t happened at a speed or magnitude that is acceptable, and it pains us that we've now lost the trust of many of you. We want to do better."

Continuing, the team explains that along with changing the Beach Properties DLC's pricing to be free (although it's still $9.99 at the time of writing, and it's not clear when exactly this is planned to change), those who bought it will be refunded "to the extent possible." However, those who bought the Ultimate Edition of Cities: Skylines 2, which includes the Beach Properties DLC as part of its $89.99 price tag, won't be eligible for this, since the option of being able to buy it either physically or digitally creates "significant complexities for executing a partial refund." Instead, Ultimate Edition owners will be given three Radio Stations and three Creator Packs worth $39.99, which could be considered a huge win or enormous flop depending on how keen you are about continuing with the game. 

Going into the future, the team wants to make "immediate and meaningful changes in the way we approach the game’s development and our communication with you." To do this, it will put "a complete focus on improving the base game and modding tools" and work on free updates before new paid content, which, in turn, will delay its Bridges and Ports Expansion to 2025. On top of that, an "advisory meeting" featuring the publisher, developer, and a selection of players (picked based on the size of their following) is being planned, to provide "full transparency and answer any questions and critiques voiced."

There's also the delay of the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game, which were initially supposed to release in October 2023 along with the PC edition, but were pushed back to spring. After "struggling" to reach "the necessary level of optimization" on consoles, the developers are "hopeful that an upcoming build delivery in April will demonstrate sufficient progress for us to progress with a release candidate, and then a release build targeted for October."

Whether the console version hits this October goal remains to be seen, as the devs admit they can't confirm its release date yet. Despite it all, the team is still determined to make Cities: Skylines 2 the "best city builder it can be," and players have been asked to watch this space for details on how to get their DLC refunds.

Be sure to check out our roundup of the top 15 best city building games you can play today.