Paradox are giving away Cities: Skylines - Parklife DLC free until April 26

For people that already have this setup as required here is a C/P from FAQ:

I was already registered for the newsletter, linked my Steam and Paradox accounts, and set my Steam profile to public. Can I still get the DLC for free?
Yes, as long as your account fits the requirement of the offer between April 21st and April 26th, you will get the DLC for free.

I already had my account set up (must have been quite a while as I don't even remember setting up that account) and Steam account linked (public profile), but I only see Stellaris in my games list on the Paradox account. I do own Cities: Skylines on Steam, and Battletech as well. I wonder if there's a problem?

Why another account :-( I will skip this then... and I don't like these additional launchers anyway.

This one is just for the website. The DLC will be added to your Steam account.

Oh, that's interesting. I already own the game and some of the DLCs and...

anyone who signs up for their newsletter

No. Just no.

... I only see Stellaris in my games list on the Paradox account. I do own Cities: Skylines on Steam ... I wonder if there's a problem?

Same here, I own at least 4 of their games and only see Stellaris listed.

... I've always been leery of linking my Steam account with others. Call me paranoid; 99.8% of the time it probably is.

I totally get your point, I feel the same, but for Paradox, I can make an exception.

This said, it seems there is a problem somewhere in the email process... Can't get the SteamGuard pin email, when I try to connect to my account. It seems it's getting lost somewhere and my email is not the issue, I tested it. Guess I'll try later.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 21 April 2020 at 3:52 pm UTC

I mean, I'm okay with this, in principle.

'Please sign up for our newsletter about the game you bought from us, and we'll give you a bit of free DLC for said game.'

It's a marketing thing because they want more eyeballs on their newsletter, and the DLC is the carrot. Hey, you already bought the game and maybe some other DLC for it, right? So it's at least potentially mildly interesting to hear what they're presumably wanting to get a bunch of people on said newsletter for (e.g. announcing new DLC, or Cities: Skylines 2, or whatever).

Humble does the same thing all the time with their game giveaways; you have to be subscribed to their newsletter.

Also nothing stopping you from unsubscribing right after you get your freebie (but of course, they hope you forget to). But it's definitely not a 'free thing out of the goodness of their hearts' campaign, that's for sure. ;)

... I've always been leery of linking my Steam account with others. Call me paranoid; 99.8% of the time it probably is.

I totally get your point, I feel the same, but for Paradox, I can make an exception.

This said, it seems there is a problem somewhere in the email process... Can't get the SteamGuard pin email, when I try to connect to my account. It seems it's getting lost somewhere and my email is not the issue, I tested it. Guess I'll try later.

As a workaround, you could try enabling two factor authentication (Steam Guard) and using the mobile app for this. You can just disable it afterwards.

EDIT: Well I guess you've already enabled 2FA, but the mobile app is still an option.


Last edited by tuubi on 21 April 2020 at 4:51 pm UTC

... I've always been leery of linking my Steam account with others. Call me paranoid; 99.8% of the time it probably is.

I totally get your point, I feel the same, but for Paradox, I can make an exception.

This said, it seems there is a problem somewhere in the email process... Can't get the SteamGuard pin email, when I try to connect to my account. It seems it's getting lost somewhere and my email is not the issue, I tested it. Guess I'll try later.

As a workaround, you could try enabling two factor authentication (Steam Guard) and using the mobile app for this. You can just disable it afterwards.

EDIT: Well I guess you've already enabled 2FA, but the mobile app is still an option.

I was able to login a couple of minutes ago... Thanks anyway.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 21 April 2020 at 5:35 pm UTC

I'm down for free DLC. Paradox game DLC can get spendy so some freebies now and then are nice.

TANSTAAFL - I don't mind a little hoop jumping. This isn't much since I already own the game and my Steam profile is already public. If they spam too much junk then I'll unsubscribe, or make a rule to delete them after a few days.

It's not really free if you have to do a bunch of digital gymnastics, is it?

That's like saying "I'll give you $20 for free* for every hour you perform this task for me."

It's like work, only instead of getting paid, you're getting...a...DLC? I would honestly rather just buy it, but since I'm not that interested in the first place, I won't bother jumping through all those hoops for something I'll probably never use anyway.

I get it, it'll appeal to some people. And good, they should take advantage of this. But I've always been leery of linking my Steam account with others. Call me paranoid; 99.8% of the time it probably is.

I very much agree with the sentiment, though in this case in particular it is not a bother to me (I already had met most of the requirements, as I am quite deep in the Paradox rabbit hole, and it's a game I like).

But in general... yeah, I'm not jumping through hoops to get random games I wasn't already very interested in. If it isn't something I am looking to buy, chances are I just don't care enough to play it even for free. (Not that I have a lot of money to spend on games, quite the opposite; but I already have a decent backlog of games I like and often have played too little).

Some people that I know keep getting every free game deal they find as if that was a big benefit, but I personally would be more annoyed by having a bunch of trash on my accounts than happy for having those games. Creating an account or subscribing to a newsletter? Nope. (Unless I was already interested in doing that, of course...)

there are several reasons for accumulating free games at least on steam one of them is that you get better booster pack rate drop and I think you increase your chance of getting foil cards. (Because accumulating games can increase your steam badge level thus improving your card rate drop)

That's... not high in my priority list :P

This is just me personally, and what I prefer. I think it is very understandable to want to hoard games given for free, and I sometimes do it; I used to do it more often.

But I also think it is important to think about it a bit more, and consider value beyond... for the lack of a better word, beyond "consumerism". Understand that this kind of effort is a cost, that taking a more chill approach (not caring so much about saving those few dollars) also has real value in terms of life quality. When looking at money savings, we tend to try to maximize the quantifiable (money, time) and ignore things like the psychological effects or the loss of privacy.

Which doesn't mean obsessing about free games is a problem for for everyone, but it was for me. Now I think about it not as "neat, I can participate in this marketing campaign and get a game worth 10 bucks" but as "I'm not jumping through these hoops for a game I don't really care about".

"Create a Paradox Account"

Arghh just can't be bothered on these, too lazy.

Oh, that's interesting. I already own the game and some of the DLCs and...

anyone who signs up for their newsletter

No. Just no.

Sign up, get the DLC, and then cancel the subscription (or just mark it as spam). Easy. You won't lose the DLC once it has been added to your Steam account.

Subbed, got the DLC, unsubbed. Done.