Publisher Paradox Interactive and developer Paradox Tectonic have announced the postponement of the Early Access version of Life by You. Originally scheduled for a release on 4 June, the game has been rescheduled to an unannounced date due to the team requiring “additional development time”.

Mattias Lilja, the Deputy CEO of Paradox Interactive, released a statement regarding the delay:

“After much consideration, we regret to announce that we have decided to retract Life by You’s Early Access release date, previously set for June 4th. This was not an easy decision, especially since we understand the anticipation and excitement that many players have for the game. However, we believe that additional development time is needed.

While we would have preferred to commit to a new release window, we believe it is more prudent to hold off while we plan ahead, rather than committing to a new date that we cannot be certain to meet.

We will provide more information as soon as possible, until then we want to sincerely thank you for your continued support and patience.”

The official announcement of Life by You was made in March 2023, and it prompted immediate comparisons with The Sims. These similarities were not solely due to the shared gameplay mechanics, but also due to the involvement of Rod Humble, a former EA executive who had worked on The Sims series in the early 2000s.

Whether Life by You has what it takes to rival The Sims remains to be seen. However, it is unlikely we will discover the answer anytime soon. Paradox has not yet specified the new early access release date for the game, making it difficult to determine if it will still be launched in 2024.

Life by You will be available for PC via Steam and Epic Games when it launches.