Cities: Skylines 2 Developer Iceflake Promises Fixes for CPU and Rendering Issues

Since Cities: Skylines 2 launched in October 2023, performance has been a persistent problem—and the new team now steering the city-building sequel is addressing that reality head-on. Iceflake Studios says it still sees room to improve, with the biggest pressure points tied to graphics rendering, the CPU’s pathfinding work, and the way the game’s systems are optimized across platforms.

New leadership for Cities: Skylines 2 and a candid performance focus

More than ten years after developing the series together, Colossal Order and publisher Paradox Interactive separated last year. Iceflake Studios took over responsibility for the continued development of Cities: Skylines 2, and in a recent City-Corner blog update it responded to community questions about how priorities are set and why certain fixes can take time.

• Iceflake Studios says it is still evaluating what performance bottlenecks to tackle first.
• The team notes that some bug fixes can require longer development cycles.
• It specifically pointed to performance improvement opportunities in the GPU and rendering areas.

Where the simulation struggles: GPU/rendering and CPU pathfinding

When asked what’s behind the game’s performance issues, Iceflake Studios’ answer centered on two major categories of work: rendering efficiency on the GPU side and ongoing complexity in CPU-driven simulation tasks.

• GPU and rendering: The studio says there is still significant potential for improvement, particularly in how rendering is handled.
• CPU and pathfinding: Pathfinding remains one of the bigger challenges for the simulation.
• Broader impact required: The team adds that these optimizations may not be straightforward and could require bigger changes to how the simulation behaves.
• System-wide view: Instead of focusing on one isolated part of the game, Iceflake Studios says it must consider performance across the entire title.

Console work aimed at helping PC too, and the next update window

Iceflake Studios also confirmed that it continues working on a console version of Cities: Skylines 2—work the team says should benefit PC players as well. The reason is tied to platform constraints: consoles come with stricter memory limits, meaning the developers must improve efficiency and adjust how key parts of the game operate.

• The studio is still developing a console version of Cities: Skylines 2.
• Because consoles have tighter memory limits, the team is focusing on efficiency changes.
• It expects improvements to come from adjustments such as changes to memory handling and changes to how parts of the user interface are rendered.
• The next update for Cities: Skylines 2 is expected to release in mid-September.

Community Q&A and what players can expect next

In its City-Corner response, Iceflake Studios framed the development process as an ongoing prioritization problem: choosing which issues to address first, balancing longer-running fixes, and treating performance optimization as a whole-game effort rather than a single-area patch. With the next update planned for mid-September, players will get their first tangible look at how those GPU/rendering and CPU pathfinding efforts are progressing.