The Cities Skylines 2 community is becoming increasingly toxic, Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen, also known as ‘martsu,’ says. With new Cities Skylines 2 editing tools still in testing, and plenty of new material for the city building sequel set for the coming year, Colossal Order sets out various ways to combat “a growing tendency of toxicity” in the CS2 community, urging players to “always be kind” to both developers and one another. The new Cities Skylines 2 mods platform is also expected to debut in the coming months, which Colossal Order says is its highest priority.
Cities Skylines 2 had a troubled launch in October 2023, owing to a range of technical and performance issues that affected its playability. The city building game and sequel to the beloved Cities Skylines has struggled to retain its player count on Steam, but nevertheless has a potentially long lifespan ahead thanks to community-made material and Cities Skylines 2 mods, which will receive official support from Colossal Order and Paradox in 2024. Nevertheless, Mariina Hallikainen, Colossal Order’s CEO, says that toxicity in the CS2 community has reached new levels.
“We have seen a growing tendency of toxicity in our community, something we have not experienced to this extent before,” Hallikainen says. “Not only directed towards our devs but also our fellow community members – resulting in people hesitating to engage with the community. In the long run, this will really hurt not only the mood and the happiness of community members but also discourage creativity and modding, something we would be very sad to see.
“We have always treasured having the devs present on the different social platforms and having direct communication with the community, but our biggest responsibility will always be protecting the team and making sure they work in a safe environment so they are allowed to do their best staying motivated and productive. So we hope we can all work together for our devs to be able to stay and be continuously active.”
Hallikainen provides a short list of suggestions on how to change the Cities Skylines 2 community, and invites players to offer their own ideas. The CEO suggests the introduction of stronger moderation tools, or the possibility that CS2 developers may retreat from community engagement.
“As the mentions of this [community toxicity] in previous entries [of the weekly Cities Skylines 2 blog] do not seem to have moved the needle, perhaps you have a constructive way of telling us how we can improve the way we communicate with each other,” Hallikainen says. “Should we add more moderation or is the only option to pull back our engagement on our end? How can we make sure the community is a safe place for you to share your thoughts and hopes for the game?”
Hallikainen also says that there is “no higher priority” for releasing official support for Cities Skylines 2 mods, affirming that the editor interface for the strategy game is expected to be ready in time for a closed beta “in a few weeks.” A bug-fixing patch will arrive before the release of the editor, which will resolve issues with the in-game simulation and various visual problems.
In the meantime, you can get ahead with all the Cities Skylines 2 DLC we’re expecting to see in the future. You might also want to try some other great management games on PC.
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