The Sims-competitor from Paradox is called Life by You
Publisher Paradox Interactive has finally lifted the curtain – at least a little bit – on Life by You, a Sims-like game developed by its new Paradox Tectonic studio in the US.
Led by Rod Humble, the former project leader of The Sims at EA and CEO of Linden Labs, the studio behind Second Life, Paradox Tectonic began working on this project in 2019. Though it’s very short, the teaser trailer shown for Life by You at the recent Paradox showcase essentially confirms what everyone has been expecting: Paradox is making a Sims-competitor.
Showing some slice-of-life scenes of people driving around a town and visiting the beach as well as a brief glimpse of some house building tools, the trailer gives us a taste of what Humble and his team have been cooking up.
Paradox wants to fully reveal Life by You on March 20, 2023, at a separate announcement event featuring game creator Rod Humble.
The Swedish publisher has had some success in the past with expanding into genres dominated by games from EA: 2015’s Cities: Skylines was able to become the dominant city building game in the wake of SimCity’s weak launch in 2013. A sequel to Cities: Skylines was also announced at Paradox’ recent show.
However, things might be a little different with going against The Sims, a series that’s essentially synonymous with its entire genre. Though The Sims 4 came out in 2014, it’s still being supported with additional DLC and switched to a free-to-play model last year, making it easily accessible.
The development of the next The Sims game, codenamed Project Rene by developer Maxis, was announced at the same time.
It’s going to be very interesting to see how Paradox and Humble want to tackle this giant of a franchise – it’s certainly an exciting time for any fans of the genre.
