Cities Skylines 2 – release time, preload, and recommended specs

1211     0
Cities: Skylines 2 comes out on Tuesday, October 24 on PC, with the console versions coming in 2024 (Image: Paradox Interactive)
Cities: Skylines 2 comes out on Tuesday, October 24 on PC, with the console versions coming in 2024 (Image: Paradox Interactive)

Cities: Skylines 2 is arriving on PC later this week, with a console launch set for 2024. Here's the exact time you can jump into the PC version.

Cities: Skylines 2 – as the name implies – is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed city building title Cities: Skylines. In an era where the last SimCity was EA's disastrous 2013 reboot, 2015's Cities: Skylines was a breath of fresh air; now, eight years later Cities: Skylines 2 is almost here – on PC at least, Xbox and PS5 players will have to wait until 2024. The game is launching day one on Xbox Game Pass as part of the October 2023 Xbox Game Pass lineup, so subscribers on PC will be able to jump in free of charge.

Cities Skylines 2 is set to be a fairly demanding title, with the game's developers even admitting via the official Cities: Skylines 2 forums that the performance at launch isn't up to the standards the team had hoped. While this level of transparency is well appreciated, it may be worth erring on the side of caution before pre-ordering the game.

Cities: Skylines 2 release time and preloads

Cities: Skylines 2 PC release time is Tuesday, October 24 at 5pm BST / 12pm EDT / 9am PDT. That is according to the page for the game on the Xbox PC app, and the Steam store page. Sometimes Steam and Xbox will take a couple of minutes before the game actually becomes accessible as the servers update, so if your copy doesn't work right away, don't worry.

Cities: Skylines 2 preload is available now on the Xbox Game Pass PC app and requires 56.76GB of disk space. However, those of you who have pre-ordered the game on Steam will sadly have to wait until the launch of the game to start downloading.

Why Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's six week delay is a good thing qhiqqhieeiqezinvWhy Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's six week delay is a good thing

Cities: Skylines 2 PC requirements

The following are the minimum Cities: Skylines 2 minimum PC requirements, as posted on the game's Steam page:

The following are the recommended Cities: Skylines 2 PC requirements, as posted on the game's Steam page:

  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10 Home 64 Bit | Windows 11
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-12600K | AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
  • Memory: 16GB Ram
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 3080 (10GB) | AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (16GB)
  • Storage: 60GB available space
  • Again, Cities: Skylines 2 will have some performance issues at launch according to the developers, so it may be worth waiting until performance patches have been released, or picking it up on Xbox Game Pass to see if your PC can handle it.

    Scott McCrae

    Steam, Xbox Game Pass, PC Gaming

    Read more similar news:

    08.02.2023, 14:39 • More
    Overwatch 2 season 3 patch notes reveal new maps and full tank hero overhaul
    10.02.2023, 13:25 • More
    Call of Duty 2023 set to be full game after Modern Warfare premium DLC scrapped
    13.02.2023, 12:47 • More
    EA Sports FC and Premier League reportedly strike £488m deal
    14.02.2023, 06:00 • More
    Dead Island 2's release date has changed again, but for once it's good news
    15.02.2023, 18:01 • More
    Warzone 2 Season 2 patch notes in full – everything you need to know
    21.02.2023, 15:37 • World
    Over a third of Brits don't know when World War II took place or what started it
    23.02.2023, 15:45 • More
    Prime Gaming March 2023: you'll never guess what you play as in I Am Fish
    23.02.2023, 22:29 • More
    Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League shown off at state of play
    24.02.2023, 16:13 • More
    Call of Duty 2023 to be built from scrapped DLC and recycled content
    28.02.2023, 16:05 • More
    Surprise Elden Ring DLC announced but the release date is still a way off yet