Much-anticipated Sims challenger Life by You catches another delay, just two weeks before its planned early access launch

Prospective Sims competitor Life by You has caught its third delay, and this one's come as a bit of a surprise, since only three weeks ago the team at Paradox Tectonic seemed extremely confident that they were going to hit their June 4 early access launch. Furthermore, this time the team has elected not to announce a revised release date, which marks a departure from the first couple of delays, both of which came with a new target already in sight.

A short update post on parent company and publisher Paradox Interactive's website announced the delay late yesterday, citing a need for "additional development time", without going into detail. The statement from Mattias Lilja, the recently installed deputy CEO at Paradox, further stated that: "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." He ended by thanking players for their patience, and affirming that further information would be made public as soon as possible.

This latest delay once again leaves life sim fans in something of a limbo state, with several exciting new titles announced over the past few years — including Life by You, Project Rene (a.k.a. The Sims 5), inZOI, Paralives, and an as-yet-unnamed project that recently recruited former Sims lead Grant Rodiek — but none with firm release dates. inZOI and Paralives currently have broad early access windows of "late 2024" and "sometime in 2025", respectively, but with Life by You now indefinitely delayed, there's nothing you can mark on your calendar for the time being.

This means that The Sims 4 — which will turn 10 in September — is still the only major life sim on the market, despite the emergence of several potential competitors alongside the announcement of its own successor. TS4 may be beginning to show its age, but it shows few signs of slowing down, with 15 updates (that's counting both free and paid add-ons) planned for the remainder of this year, including five coming over the summer as part of the Season of Love roadmap.