[sfcarrot]

EA is supposed to be pretty happy with its SimCity BuildIt as it is a new way of generating lots of revenue through micro-transactions and makes the balance sheets look better. Meanwhile, players are pretty happy with Paradox's real passion about how to build a better city simulation game. For what it is worth, it is a win-win-win for EA, players, and Paradox Interactive.

[kridsdale1]

The original Maxis team are the losers here. They worked 4 years to make something they thought would drive the genre forward but were sabotaged by executives who forced them to add DRM which destroyed the franchise when the servers exploded on release day. Then all their assets were transferred to another team who made the mobile version.

[standardUser]

The gameplay imitations were far more severe than the DRM and online stuff. A clean release may not have generated such a brutal backlash, but it wouldn't have resulted in a genuine SimCity successor either.

[bakuninsbart]

Especially recently, Paradox has a streak of publishing overpriced, unfinished, even broken games. I'd wager that the success of Cities Skylines lies more with the developer than the publisher, and hope hope hope that PDX stayed away as much as possible from CS2s development.