Paralives delayed to 2026

That’s it, people, the year of game releases has ended earlier than usual. December has nothing good coming out – unless you’re a fan of mind-wiping people in VR. Delays are always a disappointment, but I won’t be wavering from my usual phrase that a delayed game is always given the chance to be better, while a half-baked release will always have a bad taste for several people. Given that only other options are “AI-first” things like inZOI or EA’s version of The Sims, Paralives is one of those Sims-likes many of us are just waiting for.

With the intended release of Paralives’ early access just weeks away, the team behind the Sims-like game announced a rather lengthy delay due to the release not being up to their standards. In a post on Twitter (bin Elon, get in the bin) and on Steam, Alex Massé and the team working on Paralives noted, “Unfortunately, we had to make the difficult decision to delay the release. We are truly sorry for the last-minute announcement. After thoughtful consideration, we feel it’s best for the game and the community.”

After doing some internal playtesting with friends and fans, the studio had every intention to clear up and improve the release, set for December. However, with a wider playerbase for testing, “the latest feedback we received made us realise the game isn’t up to the standard we wanted it to meet for release. Players enjoy the flexibility and the customization of the Paramaker and Build Mode. However, there are still impactful bugs in the Live Mode and a lack of activities to do in the town, which dampened the enjoyment of the players, and we feel it is necessary to work on these before delivering the product to the community.”

Beyond noting the tasks and tests of development, particularly of a game like this, a lot of the statement is talking about the intentions for release. We did, however, get a new early access release date, albeit 24 days late, for it to be a birthday present for me. Paralives will now release on May 25th, 2026, with the team’s roadmap also updating to reflect these changes.

That’s not all, though, as on the 25th of November, the team behind Paralives is set to showcase 45 minutes of gameplay on YouTube, showing the current state and several aspects of the game. As I say, given that Paralives was the only thing I was looking forward to in December, I am a little disappointed at the delay, though I’m happy that it will be given a chance to better The Sims (mostly Sims 4) as it stands. The more variety and the more competition for players, the better.