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Wow those numbers really tell the story! I'm curous why the dip in income though. Is it due to higher expenses from opening new studios, or did the games sell less?
They really don't. Currency movements worked 8-10% against them. Also last year had strong lockdowns resulting everyone staying at home and playing.

The biggest problem with Paradox at the moment is not the demand for their products, its the very meagre output of DLCs and new games. Now all gaming companies report suffering because of working from home, so its nothing new. If Fred Wester can unclog the slow output. Good times are coming.
 
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The article mentions Imperator and Leviathan among possible causes. Of those two I have to disagree.

Imperator is one of the greatest comeback stories. Its initial sales, as was said in the quarterly report, had exceeded the expectations. The 1.0's design that I hated along with everyone else ended being fixed to near-perfection, and the game could finally take a breather and be solidly built upon. The only large fault here was going along with the axing its development, which ended up completely killing whatever momentum that was achieved through much blood and tears.

As for Leviathan, the sheer amount of outrage it managed to generate is tragic. Some of it is warranted, absolutely. But not to the degree that it received. I've seen someone mention people being way less forgiving due to games occupying a larger space of their lives due to lockdowns. I feel like that might be true here.

In any case, I took a liking to what I have seen about Fredrik too over the years, but it's not like the majority of the past PDS releases under his management were any different. I abhorred EU4 1.0.
Imperator may have bounced back on technically becoming a much better game, but that wasn't really reflected in player numbers at all. It's not really a coincide that it's development was put on ice even after how much better 2.0 made it as a game. It's competing with Victoria 2 in activity on steam, a game paradox hasn't actively focused development on for close to 8 years now, and that's not a good look.
 
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How long was Fred Wester's previous tenure? I know he stepped down in 2018, but when was he appointed?
Seeing what the company accomplished under him would be helpful to imagine what might be coming ahead.
 
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Didn't want to derail the topic, but I see I can't PM you.
Imperator may have bounced back on technically becoming a much better game, but that wasn't really reflected in player numbers at all. It's not really a coincide that it's development was put on ice even after how much better 2.0 made it as a game. It's competing with Victoria 2 in activity on steam, a game paradox hasn't actively focused development on for close to 8 years now, and that's not a good look.
It was on the verge of recovery when it was put down. If it was to be saved, the development should've continued. If it was to be killed, I hate to say it, but it shouldn't have advanced further than Johan's initial fixes. They took the high road and should've stuck to it. Would've been the best for everyone involved.

Ekran Resmi 2021-09-02 16.10.33.png

(feb 18th is when it peaks at 7083 concurrent players)
 
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I just hope that Paradox will not turn towards toxic monetization policies because of greed.
We had enough Blizzard for a decade or so.

I'd say Ebba's vision is less in our interest than Fredrik's. She was one of those who thought that mobile games are the future, and from what I hear she was a full-marketing person who doesn't play games.
Fredrik is the old CEO, so his return basically suggests returning to old ways rather than a change for the new.

Imperator may have bounced back on technically becoming a much better game, but that wasn't really reflected in player numbers at all. It's not really a coincide that it's development was put on ice even after how much better 2.0 made it as a game.

I:R's plug was most certainly pulled before 2.0's release. If anything, I'd say 2.0 is the only reason why it is called "Frozen" instead of "Cancelled".
 
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Didn't want to derail the topic, but I see I can't PM you.

It was on the verge of recovery when it was put down. If it was to be saved, the development should've continued. If it was to be killed, I hate to say it, but it shouldn't have advanced further than Johan's initial fixes. They took the high road and should've stuck to it. Would've been the best for everyone involved.

View attachment 752773
(feb 18th is when it peaks at 7083 concurrent players)

Im sorry... "It was on the verge of recovery before it was put down"... The graph shows it wasn't. The 2.0 patch provided a temporary boost, but players soon dwindled back to pre 2.0 levels. Now whether development has been continued or not, makes no difference here, because if it had been continued, there would not be new content or big patches out so soon anyway.

In the end, PDX is a business and the player numbers dont justify the continued investment. The resources used on Imperator are better used on HoI4, Vicky3, CK3, etc.
 
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Didn't want to derail the topic, but I see I can't PM you.

It was on the verge of recovery when it was put down. If it was to be saved, the development should've continued. If it was to be killed, I hate to say it, but it shouldn't have advanced further than Johan's initial fixes. They took the high road and should've stuck to it. Would've been the best for everyone involved.

View attachment 752773
(feb 18th is when it peaks at 7083 concurrent players)
That graph doesn't make the point you seem to think it does.

What it shows is that player numbers had a temporary increase as some players returned to check the new patch out, and then the player population dropped back down again post 2.0 during a period where no one even knew they had plans to cease development on it, which wasn't announced until early May.
 
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Im sorry... "It was on the verge of recovery before it was put down"... The graph shows it wasn't. The 2.0 patch provided a temporary boost, but players soon dwindled back to pre 2.0 levels. Now whether development has been continued or not, makes no difference here, because if it had been continued, there would not be new content or big patches out so soon anyway.

In the end, PDX is a business and the player numbers dont justify the continued investment. The resources used on Imperator are better used on HoI4, Vicky3, CK3, etc.
That graph doesn't make the point you seem to think it does.

What it shows is that player numbers had a temporary increase as some players returned to check the new patch out, and then the player population dropped back down again post 2.0 during a period where no one even knew they had plans to cease development on it, which wasn't announced until early May.
Do you guys really think there was no opportunity to be seized there? Genuine question. I mean those player numbers took a month to die down.
 
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The article mentions Imperator and Leviathan among possible causes. Of those two I have to disagree.

Imperator is one of the greatest comeback stories. Its initial sales, as was said in the quarterly report, had exceeded the expectations. The 1.0's design that I hated along with everyone else ended being fixed to near-perfection, and the game could finally take a breather and be solidly built upon. The only large fault here was going along with the axing its development, which ended up completely killing whatever momentum that was achieved through much blood and tears.

As for Leviathan, the sheer amount of outrage it managed to generate is tragic. Some of it is warranted, absolutely. But not to the degree that it received. I've seen someone mention people being way less forgiving due to games occupying a larger space of their lives due to lockdowns. I feel like that might be true here.

In any case, I took a liking to what I have seen about Fredrik too over the years, but it's not like the majority of the past PDS releases under his management were any different. I abhorred EU4 1.0.
EU4 1.0 was good and well received.
 
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Do you guys really think there was no opportunity to be seized there? Genuine question. I mean those player numbers took a month to die down.
Sure there was an opportunity... If PDX had unlimited GSG developers. But they don't. And Stellaris has sold 5,5m copies. HOI4 has 4 million copies sold and 1m active players a month. And Stellaris & HOI4 players would love more content & faster DLC releases.

Thats why they froze Imperator. If in a years time, they can afford to build up a new Imperator team, I'm sure they will.
 
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If it's about strategic direction, I think it's a good move to switch CEOs. I think Wester's vision is more in line with longtime fans' expectations. Might be mistaken though, time shall tell.
 
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Sure there was an opportunity... If PDX had unlimited GSG developers. But they don't. And Stellaris has sold 5,5m copies. HOI4 has 4 million copies sold and 1m active players a month. And Stellaris & HOI4 players would love more content & faster DLC releases.

Thats why they froze Imperator. If in a years time, they can afford to build up a new Imperator team, I'm sure they will.
If they don't have the resources now, or a year ago, when will they have them? I think I:R is pretty dead. And I think it's just easier to tell both the investors and the fans that it's frozen. The point I wanted to make in my initial post was that CEOs are relatively irrelevant. If there is any problem with the modern paradox, different from the old, it's them going public as a company. Not any CEO. In time you'll all see.
 
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I mean those player numbers took a month to die down.
That is always the case, for every PDX game.
Whenever a DLC is released, numbers spike, then within a month or two they are back to the usual value, maybe with a marginal increase.
Imperator sadly wasn't an exception here, hope was that it would reach at least a good percentage of its initial playerbase, then normalize on a higher overall value.
It didn't, numbers weren't even substantially higher than with the release of previous patches.
Though it has to be noted, with the decision to freeze development already taken, PDX made a very poor effort in the marketing of 2.0.
Hard to say how decisive that was, and we can only speculate how different the situation could've been had this not been the case, but that's that.

This is really what has me the most pessimistic about IR's situation.
Putting myself in an exec's shoes, I can honestly see how allocating resources to the game in the future would seem like a very unappealing proposal.
But who knows, maybe having a CEO more passionate about PDX games could make the difference here.
 
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If they don't have the resources now, or a year ago, when will they have them? I think I:R is pretty dead. And I think it's just easier to tell both the investors and the fans that it's frozen. The point I wanted to make in my initial post was that CEOs are relatively irrelevant. If there is any problem with the modern paradox, different from the old, it's them going public as a company. Not any CEO. In time you'll all see.
What has "going public" changed? The controlling shareholders Fred Wester / Spiltan are exactly the same as before going public.
Going public adds some financial scrutiny, sure. But in terms of strategy or control, what has changed by going public? Nothing.
 
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How long was Fred Wester's previous tenure? I know he stepped down in 2018, but when was he appointed?
Seeing what the company accomplished under him would be helpful to imagine what might be coming ahead.
I'm quite sure Fred wester had been ceo since the start of pdx
 
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What has "going public" changed? The controlling shareholders Fred Wester / Spiltan are exactly the same as before going public.
Going public adds some financial scrutiny, sure. But in terms of strategy or control, what has changed by going public? Nothing.
Being financially accountable to a significant amount of people isn't big enough of a change? I can't read the minds of senior executives, and neither can you. And we sure as hell can't speculate from all the way down here to what could and couldn't have been achieved in accordance to that accountability. But it's there and it's a large factor. One can throw it under the rug as much as they like.
 
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Yep, that just might put the tighty whities of major stock holders in a bunch. Last year you could understand those numbers. Q2 of this year, not so much. Couple that with "philosophical differences" and it's time for a change.
 
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The only valid question is:
What will this change for the players?
(Will he relaunch the development of Imperator, or say he is dead or do as his predecessor and say nothing?)
 
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