Cities: Skylines 2 delayed for months on Xbox, and your PC may not be able to handle it either

What you need to know

• Cities: Skylines 2 is a follow-up to the popular city-building simulator Cities: Skylines, developed by Colossal Order and published by Paradox Interactive.
• The game was planned to be released on PC and consoles simultaneously on October 24, but Paradox Interactive has announced that the console versions of the game have been delayed until Spring 2024.
• The PC version of Cities: Skylines 2 will still release on October 24 as a day-one addition to PC Game Pass.
• The PC system requirements for the game have also been increased.

Paradox Interactive has announced that the Xbox and PlayStation versions of Cities: Skylines 2 have been delayed until Spring 2024. However, the PC release is still on track to launch on October 24 on Steam and the Microsoft Store. In a joint statement from Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive shared on the official game forums, the developers stated, "We have realized that we need more time to reach the quality targets we have set for Console."

If you plan to make the jump to play Cities: Skylines 2 on PC, you will want to check that your gaming PC can handle the newly announced recommendation specs.

The new specs are higher than what was previously announced for Cities: Skylines 2. This is reportedly due to the original specs being announced while the game was in development, and the final version of the game needs higher specs for a better player experience. "Cities: Skylines 2 is a next-generation title and therefore has certain hardware requirements." said Paradox Interactive forum staff.

Paradox Interactive will be initiating refunds on Cities: Skylines for players who pre-ordered the title on consoles. In an FAQ on the game's forums, staff for the publisher explained that users will not need to do anything to trigger the refunds, as they are being processed automatically according to each platform's refund policy. Store pages are also being updated to disable pre-orders for the console version.

It's not all doom and gloom for Cities: Skylines fans, though. The PC release of the game on Steam and the Microsoft Store is still on track for the original October 24 release date. Cities: Skylines 2 has been announced as a Day One Xbox Game Pass addition, and the game will still launch on PC Game Pass when it becomes available in the Microsoft Store. The Xbox version of Cities: Skylines 2 is still expected to join the subscription service roster when it releases in the Spring of 2024. 

Analysis: Better late than never.

A delayed game is eventually good, but a bad launch can stick with a title forever. It's better that Paradox Interactive and Colossal Order chose to delay Cities: Skylines 2 rather than push it out in a bad state. However, the new spec list to play the game on PC is certainly raising alarm bells even about the PC version's optimization. 

I'm not quite ready to feel like my gaming rig, equipped with a 5800x and 3070TI, is already outdated for FHD recommended settings.

Let us know in the comments if you will be playing Cities: Skylines 2 on PC, or if you plan to wait for the console release before you begin crafting your virtual utopia.