What if one indie game with 13 employees completely destroyed a gaming giant's 30-year empire? In this episode, Michael Stevens breaks down how Cities: Skylines didn't just beat SimCity, it made EA's franchise completely irrelevant.

🎯 What You'll Learn:

• How a tiny Finnish studio sold 12 million copies while EA's SimCity flopped spectacularly

• Why 300,000 player-created mods matter more than fancy graphics

• The exact moment EA realized they'd lost the city-building crown forever

👤 Perfect for: curious listeners who love underdog stories and want to understand how massive companies can get blindsided by scrappy competitors.

📍 Chapters:

[00:00] Michael Stevens introduces the David vs. Goliath of city builders

[01:30] SimCity's always-online disaster that killed player trust

[04:00] How Colossal Order studied every SimCity complaint for years

[07:00] The traffic system that changed everything about city building

[10:00] Why EA still pretends Cities: Skylines doesn't exist

[12:00] What this teaches us about listening to your customers

This isn't just about video games. It's about how ignoring what people actually want will get you destroyed by someone who's paying attention. Stevens connects this modern corporate collapse to the same patterns that have toppled empires throughout history.

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🔍 Topics: Cities Skylines, SimCity, EA games, indie gaming, corporate failures

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Keywords: nazi germany, political meltdowns, founding fathers, economic collapse, war stories, world war 2, gold standard, catherine the great

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