Cities Skylines 2 developer, Colossal Order, has released an update to remove the controversial Beach Properties DLC and will be free and included in the base game.
Players are now being refunded the price of the DLC, which is part of an effort by the company to rebuild its reputation following widespread criticism. Colossal Order will now shift its focus to releasing patches related to performance and fixing the game itself.
Cities Skylines 2 New Glitch
(Photo : Paradox Interative, Colossal Order / Screenshot taken from Steam)
However, when the decision was made to remove the Beach Properties DLC, they inadvertently caused a new glitch in the game. This is where certain buildings appear as gray, featureless placeholders. While Colossal Order is aware of the issue, it said that the problem could take up to three weeks to fix.
All of the players who bought the first Cities Skylines 2 DLC will be refunded their money either directly or via additional material that will be added to the game's Ultimate Edition. Colossal Order originally said that it planned to remove Beach Properties from sale without impacting any existing saves that include the DLC, according to PCGamesN.
Between pulling the DLC from sale and then re-adding it to the base city building game, the various assets that are included in the Beach Properties add-on were supposed to remain in the base game unaffected.
However, a number of players have reported that residential and recreational areas in their cities have been transformed following the update. This has caused constructions exclusive to the Beach Properties DLC to be replaced by gray blocks.
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One player named "73de" said that their Breach Properties assets were turned into "gray tombstones." Another player by the name "MKDEVST8R" said that their hand-placed beachfront buildings were "broken" as various objects were replaced by generic placeholder blocks.
The CEO of Colossal Order, Mariina Hallikainen, and deputy CEO of Paradox Interactive, Mattias Lilja, released a new forum post. They said that the team "rushed out a DLC" in trying to make up for the disappointment that surrounded the base Cities Skylines 2 game, said GamesRadar.
Controversial Beach Properties DLC
The effort to refund players who bought the Beach Properties DLC will not extend to those who bought the Ultimate Edition of the game. This is because the option of being able to buy it either physically or digitally creates "significant complexities for executing a partial refund."
They will instead be given three Radio Stations and three Creator Packs worth $39.99, which some would consider a massive win or major loss depending on how they feel about the game in general.
The team also said that moving forward, they want to make "immediate and meaningful changes in the way we approach the game's development and our communication with you." This will be done by shifting their focus to improving the base game and modding tools.
The developers will also work on better community involvement in choosing priorities for Cities Skylines 2. On the other hand, the "Bridges and Ports" expansion for the game will be pushed back to at least 2025 for now, according to ArsTechnica.
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