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The History and Future of Paradox Grand Strategy

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Regina

Regina

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Jan 29, 2008
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"So, here’s what Johan Andersson, studio manager at Paradox Development Studio had to say to us about the history and future of the studio and its grand strategy games."

"I have always loved strategy games, always been passionate about history and a gamer by heart. When I started as a programmer in the gaming industry I was actually working on action and fighting games in Norway, believe it or not! But then I felt that I really wanted to return to Sweden and by doing so I was fortunate enough to get a chance to start up a game dev studio as part of the company Target Games, which created board games. They wanted us to create pc-games based on board-games and the first game I was part of was Europa Universalis I, based on the board game Europa Universalis. The board game was complicated as hell, but we were still convinced that it could be transformed into a magnificent empire building game for PC. And so we got the rights and created it followed by Hearts of Iron, Victoria and Crusader Kings. We wanted to make grand games in the aspect that we wanted to make the world into a playground and give the gamers everything history could provide. When we made Europa Universalis II, I remember three brave game devs in the start of the project with the tiniest of resources cramped in a small room, sharing desks, programming away. And so our story began."

Read the interview here:
http://www.spacesector.com/blog/2014/02/the-history-and-future-of-paradox-grand-strategy/

cheers,
regina

europa_universalis_I_large.jpg
 
Ah yes, I spent many a hour playing that there game. Thanks for the great memories!
 
I recently moved and today I unpacked my computer games. Lo, and behold! I found EUI (in Swedish, no less), EUII, Diplomacy and even Legion. Thank you for incalculable hours worth of entertainment.
 
Ooh, EU1. A local gamestore in my city still sells it!

I think it was my first Dox game, but it could also be HoI1. I got them at the same time see. Not sure which I tried out first.
 
Same generic Johan photo. Has he only ever had one picture taken? And now I want EU1!
 
"I personally feel that gamers are becoming more dedicated and passionate when they find a game or a game series they love and a studio they trust – they keep supporting it and thereby helping the games develop and make even greater games. And it is up to us devs to prove them right and surprise them as well :) Always in motion is the future."

It seems to me that the media coverage of Paradox is getting larger and more positive. So he may be onto something. I remember having to ring up my local game stores before you could download them online and they wouldn't even have heard of the paradox games. It was a hassle to get my hands on them. It seems more and more gamers have heard about paradox as time went on. They certainly are my favourite developers but they have been since I first stumbled across EUII. I've bought every paradox developed game since and most paradox published games. I loved them even when they were releasing buggy games but they've gone from strength to strength. Their DLC policy is good for those of us who want and are willing to pay for more and for those who aren't. It's the best DLC policy I've come across. The games are continually being improved, made more cleaner (if I can say that) or assessable and yet not being dumb downed. Most importantly they aren't buggy like they used too. Guess what I'm saying is I'm a PDS fanboy so Johan may well be correct, atleast he has my number.
 
History: Caring about customers.
Present: Trying to get mainstream with the average FPS/RPG gamer with an IQ of 75.
Future: Abandoning the hard core gamers with high IQ altogether, because we are in a minority after all.
 
Magyar1988 said:
History: Caring about customers.
Present: Trying to get mainstream with the average FPS/RPG gamer with an IQ of 75.
Future: Abandoning the hard core gamers with high IQ altogether, because we are in a minority after all.
Click to expand...

Seriously, get over yourself.
 
Magyar1988 said:
History: Caring about customers.
Present: Trying to get mainstream with the average FPS/RPG gamer with an IQ of 75.
Future: Abandoning the hard core gamers with high IQ altogether, because we are in a minority after all.
Click to expand...

lol so true. harsh but true. hopefully this changes , as a long time fan I really really hope so.
 
Tancred DH said:
Me too, unfortunately its pretty clear that their priorities are shifting towards multiplayer, dlc milking, "streamlined" broad audience and shallow.
Click to expand...

Yes I know. RIP the old Paradox we all knew and loved.
 
Tancred DH said:
Me too, unfortunately its pretty clear that their priorities are shifting towards multiplayer, dlc milking, "streamlined" broad audience and shallow.
Click to expand...
And consoles which are known to be populated by largely 10 year olds(and people with similar level of IQ score) who has just enough brain capacity to use foul language.
 
Tancred DH said:
Me too, unfortunately its pretty clear that their priorities are shifting towards multiplayer, dlc milking, "streamlined" broad audience and shallow.
Click to expand...

I would love to see PDS have the financial security to be able to make a game because Johan et al simply believe it "ought to exist" and not have to be concerned about the overall impact on the bottom line. If this is simply a needed step along the way then so much the better.
 
so true,paradox is taking EA s steps making the games more "mainstream" and "dumbed".These tipes of games aren t supposed to be made for the dumb majority,but for the minority who desires more flavorous and harder games.

Paradox like games will never be able to compete on the mainstream market,so they should try to get back to their roots,and not forget who were and are their loyal customers
 
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