Prison Architect Devs Didn’t Get Along With Paradox Interactive and Abandoned Work on Sequel; It's All About Money
Studio Double Eleven is parting ways with the Prison Architect series. The developer and Paradox Interactive failed to agree on „a commercial agreement that worked for everyone”.
The devs of Prison Architect 2 are no longer working on sequel. After 9 years of developing the series, Double Eleven studio parted ways with Paradox Interactive. The team said goodbye to fans in a separate post published on X.
The continuation of Prison Architect 2 will be finished by Kokku studio, which has been the co-creator of PA 2 since last fall (August, according to DE's post). The team will carry out the "plan" outlined in one of the recent posts on the game's Steam page and will consistently release additional developer diaries providing information about the project's future.
As we read in the announcement from Paradox Interactive on Steam, the reason for parting ways with Double Eleven was that "it wasn't possible to find a commercial agreement that would be satisfactory for both parties." The studio's declaration specifies that this didn't allow for the determination of the conditions of an agreement that could ensure the game's development after its release.
No further details were revealed on this matter, although players immediately assumed that it was about financial issues. This is one of the reasons why some fans didn't take well to the news about Double Eleven's breakup with the Prison Architect series (via Reddit).
Interestingly, many PA fans don't complain about this change. It's worth mentioning that Double Eleven isn't the original creator of the series. Introversion Software studio kickstarted the brand's existence by selling the rights to the Paradox series in 2019. Judging by the comments of some Internet users, Prison Architect fans weren't at all delighted with the changes introduced by Double Eleven (including devs' approach to DLC; via Steam).
Nonetheless, many players have concerns about what the ultimate change of developer means for the future of Prison Architect 2. Especially considering the recent issues with Paradox titles, and especially following the recent delay in the premiere (once again). The game will be released on September 3rd on PC, PS5, and XSX/S.
