https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/life-by-you-is-cancelled.1688889/
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/06/paradox-interactive-completely-cancelled-life-by-you/
Kind of disappointed about this, I was hoping it would provide a little bit of competition to EA. At least Paralives is still supposed to released, and my copy of The Sims 3 still works as well!
Unfortunately I don't know if anyone will ever catch up with the massive head start of EA/Maxis. Having an entire studio centered around it definitely helps iterate more quickly as well. It's going to be very hard for any potential competitors to offer a fraction of the content, at least at first. Even though I may dislike how much content gets locked behind a dlc, it really builds out the game in a way that wouldn't happen otherwise.
That being said, I think a company that got a solid and fun (and bug free!) foundation out the door could get a toe hold in the market. Especially if they offered easy options for scripting custom content, maps, etc.