Most strategy game fanatics are well aware of Paradox Interactive’s massive presence in that space of the market and its huge contributions to the management sims and grand strategy genres. However, the company has gone through quite the rough patch over the last two years. Now, CEO Fredrik Wester is reflecting on past mistakes and promising changes in 2025 and beyond.
Via the official Paradox forums, he and Mattias Lilja, Deputy CEO, shared an update on where the company is at moving into 2025 and after some ups and far too many downs in recent times. Long story short? We should expect Paradox to double down on its strengths in the coming years and to work on far less games outside its comfort zone.
The full post, which is worth a read if you’re a dedicated fan of the company’s titles, underlines a number of key points that we’ve collected below:
- There will be a bigger focus on grand strategy and management/simulation games moving forward. Most “mainline” projects currently in development belong to this group.
- The company “will have a stronger tilt towards our internal studios and the games they’re great at making,” though the possibility of working with external partners and on different experiences isn’t completely off the table.
- Paradox Arc will continue to act as an “incubator for small teams with strong ideas that may be a bit outside of our field of expertise.”
- More attention will be paid to technical polish and testing: “… ensuring that our processes are up to snuff, that we have checks and balances in place, that we have an outstanding assessment and management of risks, the right people in the right places.”
- A push to “bring in our players and fans at earlier stages of development” is being planned.
Right now, Paradox has Prison Architect 2, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, and Hearts of Iron IV: Graveyard of Empires lined up. Moreover, problematic launches like Millennia and Cities: Skylines 2 are receiving substantial updates, so there will be plenty to look forward to in 2025 and beyond. As always, stay tuned for the latest updates.
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