New Release “Cities: Skylines 2” Sets Impressive User Record on Steam
On October 25, “Cities: Skylines 2” made its highly anticipated release on Steam, and within just a few hours, it managed to attract over 100,000 concurrent users. This surpassed the previous game’s record and showcased the immense interest in this city-building simulation game.
However, despite the excitement surrounding the release, user evaluations have been mixed. With 6,478 participants, only 45% of reviews were positive. This can be attributed to notable optimization problems that were warned about by the developers prior to release. Many users reported experiencing stuttering issues, even with high-end graphics cards like the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080. Additionally, playing at 4K resolution on the RTX 4090 proved challenging, as it was unable to maintain a steady 30 frames per second. Surprisingly, these issues were already raised in media reviews before the release, indicating a lack of improvement from the developers.
Despite the optimization problems, “Cities: Skylines 2” does receive praise for its implementation of features previously limited to mods in the previous installment. There have been noticeable improvements in the detailed city building and a more user-friendly interface, which have garnered more positive reviews compared to its predecessor. If the optimization aspect is addressed, there is potential for the overall score to increase in the future.
Developer Response and Steam Rankings
In response to the optimization issues, the developer has published a setup guide recommending the disabling of depth of field, volume quality, and motion blur options for smoother gameplay. This shows their commitment to addressing the concerns raised by players.
Despite the mixed reviews, “Cities: Skylines 2” has maintained its position as the top-selling product on Steam worldwide for three consecutive days. Following closely behind is “Red Dead Redemption 2,” which rose to third place, while “Metal Gear Solid Master Collection” dropped to fifth place and also received mixed user reviews.
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▲ Top 20 concurrent users of the day at 11 am on October 25 (data source: Steam)
Cities: Skylines 2, which was ranked number 1 in worldwide sales on Steam for two days before its release, attracted more than 100,000 users after its release, surpassing the previous game’s record of concurrent users. However, user evaluation of the game was limited to ‘mixed’ as optimization issues were identified.
Cities: Skylines 2 recorded the highest daily concurrent users of 104,697 on the 25th, the day of its release. Since the previous game’s highest record was around 60,000, it can be said that interest in the game has increased significantly.
However, user evaluations are ‘mixed’ (6,478 participants, 45% positive). This is due to serious optimization problems that the developer warned about before release. There are many reviews saying that even with the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080, they stutter, and some continued to state that 30 frames per second cannot be maintained when playing at 4K resolution on the RTX 4090. The problem was mentioned this also in media reviews published before release, and it appears that no improvement was made until release day.
The good news is that there is almost no criticism of the game. Some of the features that were only available in mods in the previous work have been implemented, and general aspects such as detailed city building and a structured user interface have been improved, so it gets more positive reviews than the previous work. If only the optimization part is improved, there is room for the score to increase in the future.
▲ Cities: Skylines 2 Acolade Trailer (Video source: Cities: Skylines official YouTube channel)
▲ Cities: Skylines 2 Screenshot (Image source: Game Steam page) ▲ It receives a ‘mixed’ evaluation due to optimization issues (Image source: Game Steam page)
Currently, the developer is following up by publishing a setup guide that recommends disabling depth of field, volume quality, and motion blur options for smooth playback.
Meanwhile, Cities: Skylines 2 has maintained its first place on Steam’s best-selling products worldwide for three days. Next, Red Dead Redemption 2 rose to 3rd place, and Metal Gear Solid Master Collection, which fell to 5th place, received ‘mixed’ user reviews.
▲ Top 10 best-selling products worldwide on Steam as of 11 am on October 25 (Data source: Steam) (The rankings were accessed via a US IP to display games that are not open in Korea)
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