My cynical take is that everybody noticed, but did not fix. They shipped ASAP. New updates, where they address more tech debt, may fix some if this, claim major performance improvements, and thus guaranteed to generate positive press / posts / tweets.
> My cynical take is that everybody noticed, but did not fix.
Before it was released, they told everyone that the game was not optimized graphically, and the minimum specs were already high. It was quite clear that there is still more work to be done to get it in a better state. So, not sure why you have this "cynical" take. This isn't something they are trying to deceive people with. I'm not even in the market to buy the game, and I know this.
The cynical part here is that they expect the experience to be so-so, and rendering clearly problematic, but they still sell the beta-quality product, certain that the gamers would buy it anyway, and won't expect something well-done.
They published an announcement on Stream, right next to the buy button, where it shares the current issues. People are free to make their own choices. This is made up drama by people making ignorant knee-jerk reactions.
Unless this disclosure is listed at the top of the Steam product page, feels pretty rotten for uninformed consumers who are excited to play a city builder.
When you posted this, it was the top announcement. It's still in the top announcements row 5 days later, easily seen. It took a Google search of "steam city skylines 2" to discover. This announcement is as close to the purchase button as you can get it right now on Steam.
