Cross-party coalition behind proposals hope eco-friendly scheme for million people could begin before end of decade

In the next few years, spades could be in the ground for a city made of wood, in the middle of the largest new nature reserve created in England in decades, with four-bedroom homes on sale for £350,000.

It sounds too good to be true, but a cross-party coalition of campaigners is trying to make a “forest city” to house a million people a reality, with construction commencing by the end of this parliament. It would be the first such project in England since the purpose-built new town of Milton Keynes in the 1960s.

Built as a spiritual successor to the classic SimCity series, Cities: Skylines released back in 2015 to a wave of long-term success, selling more than 12 million copies and spawning a sequel. Unfortunately, Skyline’s successor has struggled from a plethora of issues – with publisher Paradox Interactive revealing that they have now parted ways with the devs at Colossal Order.

Making the surprise announcement on their official forums, Paradox Interactive and Colossal Order released a joined statement confirming the end of their long-running partnership, writing:

“After more than a decade of successful collaboration across numerous titles that we’re both immensely proud of, Paradox Interactive and Colossal Order have mutually decided to pursue independent paths. The decision was made thoughtfully and in the interest of both teams – ensuring the strongest possible future for the Cities: Skylines franchise.”

Moving forward, the Finland-based Iceflake Studios is taking over “all existing and future development for Cities: Skylines II, including free updates for the current version, continuous work on the Editor and console editions, as well as future expansions and content packs.”

As mentioned, Cities: Skylines 2 has not had the best of starts, with the team warning players prior to its release back in 2023 of expected performance issues. This appeared to have been somewhat understated though, with the game arriving on PC in a problematic state and the long-promised console release nowhere in sight.

While it is a shame to see the once-successful partnership between Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive come to an end, hopefully the team at Iceflake Studios are able to right the Cities: Skylines 2 ship in due time. The full statements from Colossal Order, Paradox and Iceflake Studios can be found HERE.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Are you surprised by this announcement? What do you think Colossal Order is going to work on next? Can Cities: Skylines 2 be saved? Let us know down below.