Cities: Skylines 2 boss says lack of mod support is the 'biggest regret we have'

Image for Cities: Skylines 2 boss says lack of mod support is the 'biggest regret we have'
(Image credit: Colossal Order Ltd.)

The biggest name in city builders has a few cracks in its foundation. When it launched late in 2023, it was pretty obvious that Cities: Skylines 2 would have benefited from some more time in development, and thanks to optimization issues and a lack of mod support, the city builder sequel currently has "Mixed" reviews on Steam—with recent reviews dipping into "Mostly Negative" territory. Ouch.

That's disappointing, especially since the original game still enjoys a "Very Positive" 93% review score on Steam (and by the looks of it is currently drawing twice the amount of daily players than its sequel).

Today on the Paradox Forums, Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen reiterated the studio's commitment to addressing community requests for improvements, while simultaneously pointing out fixes and changes can't happen overnight. 

"We’d much rather be in a different position than we are in at the moment, but we cannot change the past," Hallikainen wrote. "We’re working very hard to catch up on the missing modding support, missing platforms, the content for the Ultimate Edition, and improving the performance and fixing bugs this year. The team is divided to work on different tasks so that we’re seeing progress on all fronts and while it might not feel that it’s fast enough I can assure you we are all doing the best we can."

One of the most common requests from fans is mod support: the original Cities: Skylines has hundreds of thousands of mods that add custom creations like roads, vehicles, maps, districts, parks, and unique buildings. An editor for Cities: Skylines 2 hasn't arrived yet, and sounds like it could still be a ways off.

"The biggest regret we have is that modding support is not yet available for the game," Hallikainen said. "We have been working on it since the beginning of the project and the intent was to have it fully ready at release. Code modding support, map, and asset editing were all planned to be fully usable and mods shareable in one place."

After launch, issues with the game's performance took top priority, Hallikainen said, and the studio "ran out of time as the focus had to shift from modding support to all hands on deck to fix the performance." Work on mod support is ongoing, but there's no indication when the community might see it. "It’s not an ideal situation but we are committed to keep working on this part of the game because it means so much to you and to us," Hallikainen said.

In the meantime, Hallikainen points out some improvements that have been made based on player feedback, like improved pathfinding, and highlights a few items the studio is working on now such as improvements to the education system and more transparency in the economic system.

"We are aware we have a mountain to climb when it comes to delivering on the expectations but we have our ice picks ready and we are surely used to the cold," Hallikainen said. "We're going to keep on climbing and you'll continue to see that progress in the game."

You can read the full post on the Paradox Forums.  

Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

Read more
Cities: Skylines 2 screenshot - street level at night
Cities: Skylines 2's asset editor remains a distant dream: Colossal Order is still working on it but says it's 'proven more technically challenging than initially anticipated'
A citizen of a city
A lot is going on for Cities: Skylines' 10th anniversary—from freebies to new creator packs—but there's still a big ol' elephant in the room
People swimming in a pool and lying on floats
Planet Coaster 2 isn't the financial success that Frontier needed, according to a report, which means there's more pressure on Jurassic World Evolution 3 to bring in the big bucks
Civilization 7 review screenshot
As Civilization 7 languishes with a 'mixed' rating on Steam, Firaxis says improving the game's wildly unpopular UI is 'our top priority'
Sims 4 - Bob Pancakes is passed out sleeping on the sidwalk
Sims boss Lyndsay Pearson says 'leaks are unavoidable' and 'you're going to end up with crossed wires occasionally' as EA stays clammed-up about Project Rene
Path of Exile 2 early access class key art
Path of Exile fans are having a very normal one after an expansion was delayed thanks to Path of Exile 2: 'I need to make peace with myself and let go of this burden'
Latest in Sim
PowerWash Simulator 2 screenshots
'More evolution than revolution': PowerWash Simulator 2 is coming late 2025, and it's bringing online multiplayer and split-screen co-op with it
A child stands on top of a dinosaur exhibit, hugging the nose of a dinosaur skull.
As a real life museum employee, I'm a bit confused by the amount of pirate ghosts in Two Point Museum—but it's not going to stop me trying to make the most realistic exhibits I can
A citizen of a city
A lot is going on for Cities: Skylines' 10th anniversary—from freebies to new creator packs—but there's still a big ol' elephant in the room
Staring eyes in a face covered in oil
Death Stranding 2's PS5 release date is in June, let's hope it doesn't take 8 months to hit PC this time
Cities: Skylines 2 screenshot - street level at night
Cities: Skylines 2's asset editor remains a distant dream: Colossal Order is still working on it but says it's 'proven more technically challenging than initially anticipated'
Town in Tales of Seikyu with two townsfolk sat on the stairs
Tales of Seikyu is just your regular farming simulator, apart from the fact I've got shapeshifting abilities and I'm engaged to a pretty persistent kappa
Latest in News
Man facing camera
The Day Before studio reportedly sues Russian website for calling infamous disaster-game a 'scam'
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch
Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers
Sony, which is making a Helldivers 2 movie, is also making a new Starship Troopers movie, but it's not based on the Starship Troopers movie we already have
Assassin's Creed meets PUBG
Ubisoft is reportedly talking to Tencent about creating a new business entity to manage Assassin's Creed and other big games
Resident Evil Village - Lady Dimitrescu
'It really truly changed my life in every possible way': Lady Dimitrescu actor says her Resident Evil Village role was just as transformative for her as it was for roughly half the internet in 2021
Storm trooper hero
Another live service shooter is getting shut down, this time before it even launched on Steam