Saturday Morning Gaming: Paradox Interactive Admits It
Paradox Interactive is one of those littler game publishers that I have had a soft spot for. I’m not the biggest fan of “grand strategy” games but, hey, different strokes for different folks and every now and again I see one that is good enough for me to say “I want to play that!” and then play it and start feeling dumb about 20 minutes into it.
Paradox was one of the companies that rarely had Grand Slams but they regularly got on base (and occasionally had a home run). Here, check out this list of games.
Europa Universalis, Majesty, Crusader Kings, Mount and Blade, Battletech and here is the one that will get people to argue “they had a massive Grand Slam!”: Stellaris.
Well, in the last couple of years, they’ve had a handful of blunders. Empire of Sin was supposed to be an awesome take on the whole grand strategy thing but with mobsters. The most recent expansions for Surviving Mars and Europa Universalis IV were so bad that Paradox issued an apology. And, most personally troubling, there’s all the drama with Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2.
Well, it looks like Paradox has noticed these things as well. They’ve announced that their CEO is stepping down:
Due to differing views on the company’s strategy going forward, Paradox Interactive AB’s (publ) CEO Ebba Ljungerud has decided to leave the CEO position with immediate effect. The Board of Paradox Interactive has appointed Fredrik Wester as CEO with immediate effect. Ebba Ljungerud will stay for a period to ensure a good handover. In connection with Fredrik Wester’s appointment as CEO, he has resigned as Chairman of the Board with immediate effect. The Board has decided to appoint Håkan Sjunnesson, currently Deputy Chairman of the Board, as Chairman of the Board.
The company’s strategy took them to a handful of weird places over the last few years (including a first-person Vampire-themed RPG).
It looks like they’re returning to their roots.
While this won’t necessarily mean that things will get better over the next year or so, it does seem to indicate that they have realized that they were in a place they didn’t want to be.
They went back to a save point, I guess.
I hope they end up making awesome games again (even if, you know, they’re not exactly to my taste).
So… what are you playing?
(Featured image is “Roundabout Sign” by TireZoo and is licensed under CC BY 2.0)
This always happens to me when I read something too quickly. I thought it said the old CEO would “stay for a period to ensure a good hangover”. I wish them the best, but man their games are hard to get into. A Sid Meier game can be anything from a bunny slope to a black diamond, depending on how far you want to dig into it.Report
Yeah some games have tutorials. Crusader Kings 2’s tutorial was, basically, the game putting its cigarette out in your eye. Paradox’s other games I’ve played weren’t that bad but they sure as heck weren’t good. You basically have to research the games independently to learn how to play them.Report
OK, that phrasing is as good as I’ve ever read.
The line in my head is “Paradox Games: Created BY people who understand Paradox Games, FOR people who understand Paradox Games”.Report
Hah! It is true. But to give Paradox their due- on some of those games once you understand how they work you can fall into them hard!Report
Hmm, the titles I own from Paradox appear to be Crusader Kings II, Hearts of Iron IV, Surviving Mars (no expansion, tho), and of course, Stellaris.
I ended up playing CK the least, mostly because I am not emotionally fit to murder my son because he isn’t fit to rule, and that’s what you need to do to be successful. Yes, it’s a game, and I don’t judge other people for it.
But I like the 4X ish nature of them. AND, yes, they can be very tricky to figure out how everything works. HOI4 is the worst in this regard, I think.Report
I’m surprised that you don’t own what to me is the most interesting Paradox title: Cities Skylines.Report
I’ve never played it. I’ve heard that it out Sim Citys Sim City… but that’s a genre that only grabs me every couple of years or so.Report
Not a fan of Paradox… should be a fan of Paradox… but playing Paradox games makes me not a fan.
Mentioned that I got New World MMO… seems about 1/3 finished. Combat is clunky… and weapon based skills are a mash-up of Guild Wars and Elder Scrolls. Sword & Board seems to make sense, plus the 2h skills and Bow… Rapier is missing Main Gauche, the Musket has Traps(?!) and Hatchet(!) is missing, well, the other Hatchet. Makes it hard to get into your weapon choices.
Seems to be mostly a crafting sim and the most fun I’ve had is just rolling through the woods gathering things. The quests are about 3-5 yrs out of date as they require you to activate them via a Quest Giver (how drool) rather than the new style of just enjoying the exploration and having the quest activate when do the thing the quest wants you to do. So a lot of running hither/yon but not in the good explory kind of way.
Hoping they just throw billions at it to see what happens… but right now it shiped dated and clunky… I can only assume the networking/server tech is amazing.Report
Oh, and in a bit of serendipity, Europa Universalis IV is the Epic Game store’s free game this week.
So you can be reminded that you aren’t in the target audience for free this time.Report
Interesting. I believe everyone that Paradox games are worth playing once you get past the hurdle. So, if you put one out for free, does that allow people to learn your game development style, and encourage them to purchase more? Or does it give everyone a low-investment chance to try the game and find it too confusing, thereby keeping them from ever buying another, without even the first purchase? I’d bet that people spend more time trying to figure out a pricier game because of the investment.
The thing of it is, when you see a complex marketing problem like this, it’s tempting to say “I’m sure they worked all this out”. But given the state of the company’s management, who knows?Report
Well, the Epic Store gives games away for One Week.
So, like, this time next week? Tough Noogies. You’re going to have to bust out your credit card.
And if you like the game… maybe you’d like some of the DLC? Could I interest you in Leviathan? Emperor? Dharma? Cradle of Civilization? Mandate of Heaven? Rights of Man? Mare Nostrum? The Cossacks? Common Sense? El Dorado? Art of War? Res Publica? Wealth of Nations? Conquest of Paradise?Report
That seems like the worst move to market a game that takes a while to figure out.Report
The best way would probably be a charismatic young person who gets excited talking about how to play it on Twitch.
In the absence of that? “First Hit’s Free!” has a long tradition.Report
Makes sense. I’ve noticed a lot of “getting back to Diablo 2” videos lately. It’s hard to beat the impact of an excited fanbase. Is there one for Paradox games? I know some people like them, and I certainly don’t keep track of every gamer trend out there, but when a certain level of buzz gets going it’s hard not to hear it.Report
The only ones I’ve seen are somewhat less charismatic middle-aged people.Report
My people! (Actually, the more charismatic, younger portion of my people.)Report
Igor says Russia loves Majesty.Report
Crusader Kings 3 has gotten a lot more popularity outside of the Paradox bubble because of three major things –
1.) They actually have improved the UI
2.) It’s free on Game Pass, which means you can do the deep dive on learning it w/ out dumping $60 on a game that might be too much for you
3.) CK 3 is much more a game about characters, while EU 4, Victoria, etc. are much more games about nations.Report
Well, I am still playing Battle Tech. Not as much as I did a year ago. Love that game. They did a fantastic job of making the battle mechs and did good with the b-tach history.Report