Video Games · Intellectual Property · Vertical Integration · Franchise HandoverHandover announced 17 Nov 2025 · record to 20 Sep 2026
Paradox, Colossal Order and Iceflake
The Franchise Its Maker Did Not Own
For more than fifteen years and four games, Colossal Order made the Cities series for Paradox Interactive. On 17 November 2025 the two announced they were parting — and the franchise stayed with Paradox, which moved it to Iceflake Studios, a Tampere neighbour it had already owned for five years. Ten months on, the new developer has shipped a content pass and announced LEGO Skylines. The sequel’s console editions, once meant for launch day in 2023, still have no date.
What Happened
What was announced, and what moved with it One joint statement, published by both companies, and everything published since
- 4Games Colossal Order made in the partnership, by Paradox’s own count
- 15+Years of the partnership, in the developer’s own words
- 2020The year Paradox bought the studio that would receive the franchise five years later
- 0Console editions of Cities: Skylines II shipped, nearly three years after the PC release
| Standing | What | On whose record |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmed | Paradox Interactive and Colossal Order announced they had “mutually decided to pursue independent paths”, and that the Cities franchise would move to Iceflake Studios of Tampere. This page dates it 17 November 2025; the developer’s own site dates its copy of the same text to 1 November, which the timeline takes up. | One statement, published by both companies |
| Confirmed | Iceflake took over all development from the start of 2026 — free updates, the Editor, the console editions, and future expansions and content packs. | The same statement |
| Confirmed | Colossal Order finished two things before leaving: the bicycles update on 15 November 2025, and a beta of custom-asset support for the Editor on 1 December. | Colossal Order’s own news index |
| Confirmed | LEGO Skylines was announced on 25 August 2026 at gamescom — developed by Iceflake, published by Paradox, with the LEGO Group as brand partner. It has no release date and no price. | Paradox’s press release; the game’s own store listing |
| Confirmed | Expansion Pass 2 for Cities: Skylines II was released on 15 September 2026 at USD 44.99, credited to Iceflake Studios. | Its store listing |
| Confirmed | The store page for Cities: Skylines II now credits its developers as “Iceflake Studios, Colossal Order”, in that order. | Read from the store, 20 September 2026 |
| Not public | Why. Neither company gives a reason, names who raised it, or says whether anything was paid. | Nothing read here |
| Not public | What became of the people. The developer’s own announcement links a questions-and-answers thread that an unattended request cannot open. | Could not be read |
The wording on both sides is the wording of a settlement, not of a failure. What tells a reader more than the statement does is the storefront: the sequel’s page now lists two developers where it listed one, the newer name first, and the content pass sold beneath it carries only the newer name.
- 1 Jan 2026The day Iceflake took the helm, set in the announcement itself
- 25 Aug 2026LEGO Skylines revealed — the first new game of the new arrangement
- 15 Sep 2026Expansion Pass 2, the first content pass credited to the new developer
Timeline
Eleven years, and the nineteen days at the end of them Every dated item, and afterwards the three that could not be dated at all
- 10 Mar 2015Cities: Skylines releases on PC. Colossal Order develops, Paradox publishes.
- 17 Jul 2020Paradox acquires Iceflake Studios of Tampere, founded 2007, as its ninth internal studio.
- 22 Jun 2022Cities: Skylines passes 12 million copies on all platforms, Paradox announces.
- 24 Oct 2023Cities: Skylines II releases on PC at USD 59.99. The console editions, once planned for the same day, do not appear.
- 6 Feb 2024Paradox’s year-end report: more than a million copies by the quarter’s end, and a chief executive “upset that we didn’t live up to players’ performance expectations”.
- 25 Mar 2024Beach Properties, the sequel’s first paid add-on, is released and is badly received.
- 18 Apr 2024Both chief executives apologise jointly and refund it: it “should not have been published in its current form”.
- 18 Jun 2024Paradox closes Paradox Tectonic in Berkeley, cancelling Life by You and ending a studio of 24.
- 9 Jul 2024The console release window opens indefinitely: “we have not yet met the stability and performance targets we set”.
- 29 Oct 2025Bridges & Ports, the sequel’s first expansion, is released by Colossal Order.
- 15 Nov 2025Colossal Order ships the bicycles update.
- 17 Nov 2025The parting is announced. The franchise moves to Iceflake.
- 1 Dec 2025Colossal Order ships custom-asset support for the Editor, the last of what it promised.
- 1 Jan 2026Iceflake takes the helm for all Cities development.
- 25 Aug 2026LEGO Skylines is announced at gamescom by Paradox, Iceflake and the LEGO Group.
- 15 Sep 2026Expansion Pass 2 is released, credited to Iceflake.
- 20 Sep 2026The store and aggregate readings on this page are taken.
Two dates for one statement
Paradox’s own news page carries 17 November 2025 in its page data, and an independent report timestamped that afternoon describes the statement as newly posted. Colossal Order’s copy of the identical text, on its own site, displays 1 November, and its news index files it there. Sixteen days apart, on the two parties’ own pages. This page uses 17 November, because the publisher’s own data and the day the press reported it agree; the other date is on the record and is left there.
Three things no date could be found for
When the decision was taken, and by whom. When LEGO Skylines began — it was announced in August 2026 and nothing read here says when work on it started. And what happened to the people, which the developer’s own answers page would say if it could be opened.
The Argument
What the statement says, and what it carefully does not The claim the published record makes, and the gap in the middle of it
Read on its own, the joint statement is an account of an orderly handover. The decision was “mutually decided” and made “in the interest of both teams — ensuring the strongest possible future for the Cities: Skylines franchise”. It names what moves and when, and it thanks everybody. What it never gives is a reason, and neither company has given one since. The only dissatisfaction either side has put on the record is Paradox’s own, in a financial report two years earlier, and it is about the sequel’s performance and its missing platforms rather than about the studio that built it.
- “Mutually decided”Both companies, in one sentence published twice
- 19 daysBetween the sequel’s first expansion shipping and the parting being announced
- 0 reasonsGiven by either party, then or since
The sequence is not the cause — marked as inference
It is tempting to read the sequel’s difficult two years as the reason the partnership ended, and the order of events allows it. The published record does not establish it. Nothing either company has said names a cause. The large write-down in the quarter of the sequel’s launch was a different game entirely, by the report’s own words. And the partnership was still shipping: the first expansion arrived nineteen days before the announcement and the bicycles update two days before it. What the record supports is a sequence; the rest is a reader’s inference, and this page marks it as one.
What the statement describes without saying it
Colossal Order made four games in the series and owned none of the franchise. That is why a parting could move the development and leave the work behind: there was nothing to divide. The studio kept its independence and left with its experience; the franchise stayed with the company whose name is on the rights. Neither statement mentions ownership, because neither had to.
What Others Add
What the numbers show, and what the storefront shows Read directly on 20 September 2026; each aggregate carries its own review count
| Measure | Cities: Skylines | Cities: Skylines II |
|---|---|---|
| Released on PC | 10 Mar 2015 | 24 Oct 2023 |
| Store standing | Very Positive | Mixed |
| Positive reviews | 271,524 / 292,367 — 92.9% | 51,868 / 92,724 — 55.9% |
| Aggregate critic score | 85, from 60 reviews | 74, from 65 reviews |
| Players online, one reading | 6,813 | 9,248 |
| Platforms shipped | PC and consoles, from 2017 | PC only |
The two players-online figures are a single reading taken at one minute on one morning. They are not a peak, an average or a trend, and they are on the page only because they could be measured directly: at that instant the eleven-year-old game had about a quarter fewer players than the sequel.
The older game
Eleven years old and still played
- 12 million copies on all platforms by June 2022, on Paradox’s own announcement — the last official figure found.
- On consoles from 2017, with a birthday patch for them five years later.
- 6,813 people were playing it at the moment this page’s readings were taken, against 9,248 on the sequel.
The sequel
Two apologies and an open-ended wait
- More than a million copies by the end of its launch quarter, Paradox reported; no later official figure was found.
- Its first paid add-on was refunded and made free in April 2024 after a joint apology from both chief executives.
- Its console editions, once planned for launch day, still carry no date on Paradox’s own page — only a wishlist link.
- Its first expansion, Bridges & Ports, sits at Mixed: 314 of 587 reviews positive.
The publisher
Cutting studios, not adding them
- The large write-down in the quarter of the sequel’s launch was another game entirely, by the report’s own words: MSEK 175.8 inside a quarterly operating profit of MSEK 123.9.
- Full-year 2023 revenue rose 34% to MSEK 2,642.1 while operating profit fell 26% to MSEK 657.9.
- In June 2024 Paradox closed Paradox Tectonic in Berkeley, cancelling Life by You and ending a studio of 24 people.
- No source read here records any write-down against Cities: Skylines II.
The franchise moved a few streets, not a few countries
Colossal Order is in Tampere. Iceflake is in Tampere, and Paradox has owned it since July 2020, when it was announced as the group’s ninth internal studio and described as founded in 2007. The person who spoke for Iceflake at that acquisition speaks for it at the handover, and is game director on LEGO Skylines. Whatever else this was, it was not a search.
Conclusion
What is settled, and what is not For a reader deciding what to believe now and what to watch next
- Take the dates and the credits as settled. Both companies published the same statement, the store pages carry the new credits, and the two releases since are dated on their own listings.
- Do not take the cause as settled. No reason has been published by anyone, and the reading that the sequel cost the studio the franchise is a reader’s inference — a reasonable one, and still an inference.
- Treat the console editions as the test of the new arrangement. They were meant for launch day in 2023 and Paradox’s own page still gives no date in September 2026. If they ship, that is the clearest evidence that something changed.
- Judge LEGO Skylines when it has a date, and not before. It has no release date, no price and no reviews.
- Note what the older game is still doing. Cities: Skylines is eleven years old and had about a quarter fewer players than the sequel at the one moment this page measured.
The rule underneath all of it
A studio can make a thing for fifteen years, be named on every box, and not own it. When the contract ends, the work stays with whoever holds the rights and the studio leaves with its experience. Colossal Order is still a company and still independent; the franchise it created is being made by somebody else, in the same city, for the same publisher.
What would change this page
A stated reason from either party; a console release date; an official sales figure for the sequel later than the million Paradox reported for its launch quarter; or a release date for LEGO Skylines. None of the four exists today.