Imperator: Rome - Status Update (Apr 2021)

[Lamisatr]

April fools? What the hell? They build a great team, the team takes the game and makes it very enjoyable and... they dissolve the team? Is the management at Paradox 1000 monkeys with typewriters? I understand you need to move everyone onto the sinking boat Leviathan is, but let the poor I:R live.

They're moving devs from the Mary Rose to the Titanic.

 

[IsaacCAT]

The Dev team has done a great job, but we have to understand that this team was there when the game was being developed in 2017 (?). This is a full 5 years cycle already.

Let them go to new projects if we love them.

For I:R a new fresh team with energy and momentum can bring forward the game to new heights. I want to believe in PDX that this is what they are doing. No one wants to loose face.

 

[Palando]

I dont know whats more devastating whether this halt on development probably means the death of the game or the fact that if it does make a comeback, it wont be led by Arheo. I just cant imagine anyone else doing such a good and creative job as Arheo. He had the perfect view for the game. Alas, it will be put to good use for Victoria III, but I would much rather he had stayed in IR.

What makes you believe he's developing Victoria III? Vicky III was most likely Chris King's project before Wiz took it over.

Given that they recently started searching for concept artists for a fantasy game, my money would be on Arheo leading that team.

 

[IntoTheStars]

You do realise people will not forget this, right? You do realise that this will reflect poorly on you in your other games, right?

Maybe if they had done this a year ago. I think it’s fair to say that they gave the game a lot of work for something making basically no money in an attempt to turn it around. It can’t last forever unless the economics start making more sense.

 

[KamilKry]

Apparently none of them are being shuffled to EUIV, since now that's entirely the new studio's domain. Stellaris, however, does appear to be the destination of some, and I wouldn't be surprised if others were headed to reinforce the CK3 team.

I can only imagine that you have actual data, while mine was just an intuitive outburst. Thanks for clarifying!

To see EU (I game I played since 2000, since EU1, that got smuggled to me on a CD-R form Germany) and I:R (A game which I simply fell in love with, especially the 2.0 and hoped to play for years and years) both semi-die in a span of a week actually made me emotional.

 

[Lamisatr]

The Dev team has done a great job, but we have to understand that this team was there when the game was being developed 2017 (?) this is a 5 years cycle already.

Let them go to new projects if you love them.

Now, for I:R a new fresh team with energy and momentum can bring forward the game to new heights. I want to believe in PDX that this is what they are doing. No one wants to loose face.

It's not face they're bothered about losing, it's money, and just as importantly the opportunity cost of having devs on IR. The game is best left in the hands of the community and modders and they have always been more committed to the game than the suits at PDS have.

The game will be better off long-term without PDS, because PDS cannot be trusted with it and will just get in the way of modding and overhaul projects.

 

[Lamisatr]

What makes you believe he's developing Victoria III? Vicky III was most likely Chris King's project before Wiz took it over.

Given that they recently started searching for concept artists for a fantasy game, my money would be on Arheo leading that team.

I agree I think they're going down the fantasy route and we all know why....

 

[master_kong]

That isn't our intention, but obviously no one can predict the future. Imperator is in a good place right now, so we felt it was safe to pause development for a bit and help reinforce some other projects. This isn't ideal, we've traditionally moved people around projects quite a lot to ensure we can get things done, we're trying not to move people around so much now (because it causes other problems), and in the short term that means one of the projects unfortunately had to give up a few people.

Who did think it is wise to pause the development right after a huge overhaul of the game? Good place you say, is there even a possibility that such a massive patch can come up in a non-buggy state? The game is quite buggy right now unsurprisingly after such a patch and despite the amazing job Imperator team did with the release and the patches after it. How is that safe to pause development? And there were features or rather concrete ideas of the team waiting to be implemented such as postponed subjects rework, what will happen to them? Such a waste! This massive overhaul patch was a "foundation", imagine leaving a construction after building an incredible foundation and even changing the architect even if the project comes alive again. 2.0 was just a beginning of a vision and you are shutting down that vision right after a successful first step. One could ask why even overhaul the whole game if you'll leave it as it is right after? I'm sorry but this is extremely dumb and I'm frustrated as a customer. Also, do you guys think I'd buy a non-completed game from you again if you abandon or even fail this game further at this point? I'll answer it, it's a big fat "No!" and I don't think I'd be alone on this.

Despite the frustration and disappointment I too wanna recognize and thank them for the awesome work that has been done on the game by the Arheo and the team. I am aware they have the right to be even more frustrated and disappointed than us. Good luck on your future endeavors everyone! And finally sorry the language @Dnote I know you are just the messenger, please don't be offended by my tone, it's not towards you as you know

 

[IsaacCAT]

It's not face they're bothered about losing, it's money, and just as importantly the opportunity cost of having devs on IR. The game is best left in the hands of the community and modders and they have always been more committed to the game than the suits at PDS have.

The game will be better off long-term without PDS, because PDS cannot be trusted with it and will just get in the way of modding and overhaul projects.

I have hope in this world that not everything is about money and there are many things that we are not aware (and I am not talking about God).

We will see.

 

[cristofolmc]

What makes you believe he's developing Victoria III? Vicky III was most likely Chris King's project before Wiz took it over.

Given that they recently started searching for concept artists for a fantasy game, my money would be on Arheo leading that team.

Well youre assuming that Arheo has been put to a game lead position. They havent said anything of the kind. He could well be vicky3 dev lead's right hand.

I dont know after his work in IR i dont see him leading a fantasy game xd. Poor Arheo. His work doesnt deserve such punishment. They wouldnt do that to him

 

[klopkr]

I know you guys are saying you'll come back but we all know this is a deathrattle.

I'll be more than happy to eat my words in a year. So please anyone feel free to remind me then!

Too bad all the obvious predictions of Imperators hurdles have come true so far so don't hold your breaths.

It's gonna be so much easier for an out of touch higher up with close-sighted aims to close this game down once they notice they don't even have people on the project anymore and don't even want to shift resources to revive it. (The fans must not care if it's not even being worked on for a year!/s)

 

[Lamisatr]

I have hope in this world that not everything is about money and there are many things that we are not aware (and I am not talking about God).

We will see.

I admire your enthusiasm. I have long been of the opinion that games only truly thrive when thrust out in to the World for the pople who truly love them, to care for them. The entire TW franchise (whether you play them or not) is testament to this, the overhauls far exceed the base games, making them largely irrelevant.

In fact the only really significant thing about the recent RTW remaster was that they'd vastly improved its modability.

 

[Aquila SPQR]

Well... if people refuse to buy their other new games and DLCs until they start working on I:R again...

 

[Palando]

Well youre assuming that Arheo has been put to a game lead position. They havent said anything of the kind. He could well be vicky3 dev lead's right hand.

I dont know after his work in IR i dont see him leading a fantasy game xd. Poor Arheo. His work doesnt deserve such punishment. They wouldnt do that to him

This would mean degrading him, which would be even more odd given his achievements.

There's another reason to believe he's game director for another game, as otherwise he could easily return, which seems to not be the case.

 

[Lamisatr]

Well... if people refuse to buy their other new games and DLCs until they start working on I:R again...

I have already put my wallet away!

They're releasing any old garbage now.

 

[Glanyr]

I don't know what you guys expected but that's pretty much what i thought is going to happen. I liked playing the game, i put around 100 hours into 2.0 and about 300 in the game since release. But the replayability is still very low, once you're done with the obvious nations. There is no reason to play a gallic tribe and afterwards a british one.
To me the game right now itself is in a pretty okayish spot. But without reasons to play another campaign (which every patch gave me at least for once) i fear that the most people will stop playing IR. Which leads to the conclusion that we will not get further support for it. Still really disappointed since i'm not interested in the other time periods at all.

 

[Dnote]

Despite the frustration and disappointment I too wanna recognize and thank them for the awesome work that has been done on the game by the Arheo and the team. I am aware they have the right to be even more frustrated and disappointed than us. Good luck on your future endeavors everyone! And finally sorry the language @Dnote I know you are just the messenger, please don't be offended by my tone, it's not towards you as you know

As long as you stay within the forum rules, feel free to vent your frustration, I don't mind.

After all, this was actually my decision, I'm not just the messenger. I have a soft spot for Imperator, as I helped Johan start it back in the day, was there for the launch and the first few updates and whilst I took a step away until November last year, I am ultimately responsible for all our strategy games and the business decisions around them, with my team of Product Managers in collaboration with the studios. So, this ones on me, no one else.

 

[Cagallo]

I've seen too much people using the "alas" expression for one night. Out.

 

[SanicK]

As long as you stay within the forum rules, feel free to vent your frustration, I don't mind.

After all, this was actually my decision, I'm not just the messenger. I have a soft spot for Imperator, as I helped Johan start it back in the day, was there for the launch and the first few updates and whilst I took a step away until November last year, I am ultimately responsible for all our strategy games and the business decisions around them, with my team of Product Managers in collaboration with the studios. So, this ones on me, no one else.

Despite the sad news, thank you very much for your transparency, seriously. I never imagined that a Product Manager would come to the forum to give us feedback and be so open about it.

 

[Nerdman3000]

As long as you stay within the forum rules, feel free to vent your frustration, I don't mind.

After all, this was actually my decision, I'm not just the messenger. I have a soft spot for Imperator, as I helped Johan start it back in the day, was there for the launch and the first few updates and whilst I took a step away until November last year, I am ultimately responsible for all our strategy games and the business decisions around them, with my team of Product Managers in collaboration with the studios. So, this ones on me, no one else.

I can’t tell if that makes me more hopeful for Imperator Rome coming back or not. Leaning towards more hopeful.