Stellaris, Age of Wonders 4, Crusader Kings 3, Harts of Iron 4, Pillers of Eternity series, Imperator: Rome, Shadowrun series, Europa Universalis IV, Surviving Mars, Surviving the Aftermath, Tyranny. Paradox is a great publisher from where I'm sitting. I only buy DLC for Stellaris though. The next DLC looks to be awesome for us Machine empires...lol
Paradox is one of those studios... they have produced some great games. But, they have also suffered from small studio problems. A game I used to really enjoy, Magicka: Wizard Wars, a pvp only, micro transaction led Free to Play Moba-like, was shut down by Paradox after not building enough of a player base. Even with F2P and micro transactions, Magcka stood out as a stellar entry into the pvp space of Magicka. Featuring true balance, skill-based, hot-key game play, there isn't another game that has done pvp better. Simply put, they struck gold with the design of their game, but failed to attract enough players to Get Rich Quickly. Line wasn't going up, game development saw updates and additions, even going so far as to release themed sets and cosmetics with 'power' tied to them. The problem? When Paradox shut down Magicka: Wizard Wars, they didn't leave it in a playable state. All the money players spent on items, the items themselves, and the game, shut down for good. Today, you can play Magicka: Wizard Wars by installing a user maintained client and playing online through steam. All of the items have been made available for free, players can customize their wizards fully and there isn't anything to pay anymore. Check out the Magicka: Wizard Wars Reborn discord for more info.
Not always. Even just 5 years ago they initial game was just fine. Imperator was the first warning sign and it has been downhill from there. Curiosly most of the games before that started development before they went public...
@@XMysticHerox Believe me. The initial releases of Hearts of Iron 3 oder Victoria 2 were everything but fine. Sengoku or March of the Eagles were even worse, barely falling into the definition of a game, being more similiar to a tech demo. Paradox releases nowadays are far better than fifteen years ago. I think the main difference between now and then is just, that the Paradox fanbase has grown far larger than before and Paradox old buisness model has reached a breaking point. Monetizing every feature of your game in smaller and smaller portions while people being obviously tired by sequels releasing with less content than there predecessors (Looking at you CK 3, CS 2 and ESPECIALLY Victoria 3) can't be a model for the future.
@@MrJenkins222 Neither HoI3 nor Victoria 2 had PDXs modern DLC policy so this does not fit your narrative at all. As for CK3. I'd say it had more content than CK2 on release. Significantly so even. CS2 as well. It's issues were more on a technical level. That a game is not going to release with years worth of DLC should be obvious.
@@XMysticHerox CK3 also has CK2 to pull from though and the additional features are minimal if you consider that fact. Sure, its got a reskin also, but really it is barebones intentionally for the sake of expansions.
Go public -> Focus shifts to quarterly profits at expense of long term growth -> quality goes down but the CEO managed to cash in on his stock options.
I remember when they announced it and they did a Stellaris stream before it came out, The CEO was there and said it will not impact on how they work. everyone in the stream was calling them BS back than too
i dont understand the logic. why would i agree to a contract that secures me stock options than ruin its worth? and wasnt Frederik Wester a founding member of paradox? im pretty sure he is the founder. with 33% Westerinvest, of which Frederik Wester is also CEO, holds by far the biggest share of the company. why would he want to ruin his lifeproject in which he is heavily invested?
This is a huge part of why everyone's pissed at Cities Skylines II, yeah. People would have been happy if they'd just copied the popular mods, but no, they couldn't even copy things properly.
@@pfeilspitze I doubt you will find a mod maker for CS1 that would not want their mod copied and added to the main game. Why the hell do you think they add those features via the mod? They want it in the game. The problem with CS2 is that if feels like it just got kicked out 3/4 done. So many things feel like another year or two they would of been cleaned up and fixed, but they just barely got things "working" and had to shove it out the door. Maybe one day we will find out why, maybe the devs couldn't hack it or maybe Paradox had a fixed deadline and refused to budge.
Oh, no, the shareholders will be fine. They'll cash out, walk away, and invest in the next company willing to run itself into the ground in the pursuit of quarterly growth. That is the problem with going public, you end up catering to people with no loyalty to your company and no interest in your long term success.
That's very very very long term. Unfortunately most gamers don't have any self respect. They are vocal when something bad releases, but still play it anyway
Paradox being one of the largest strategy game publishers, it's truly sad to see so many of their games feel incomplete without an additional $40 dlc instead of the dlc adding onto an already great product
Mi Amigo, they've been doing that shit for the last 6 years at least. Probably longer. I know Crusader's Kings has 9 million DLC's and at a certain point you gotta start to wonder how much of this was probably in the base game at some point.
I'm glad you covered this. I had a friend tell me he was excited for Star Trek Infinite when it launched and that he was sure Paradox would continue to build on it like they do with all their games. But then I told him about Empire of Sin and to not get too comfortable.
Just a little note about Empire of Sin, Paradox sold a season pass for several DLC and just haven't made the last one, the developer is long gone and they are still selling it on Steam, just basically fraud.
Empire of Sin is a pretty fun game but has so many bugs that I just had to stop playing it. Played it for free basically so don't feel ripped off but it is a shame.
I doubt those who bought cs2 expanded will get their dlc's. And even they get the dlc's it likely going to be like the latest asset pack, 'sunset crash' something of a tiny value.
preordered it because the Romero couple was at the helm, and I thought Romero is a good enough name to bet on turns out... the Romero name aint worth a damn.
Yeah, just can't wait for that. /s It's such a shame too, considering that I'm literally halfway through of yet another playthrough of the original and the 20 y.o. game is still super enjoyable. Sure, the graphics feel a bit like Wolfenstein 3D did when VtMB came out, but once again I'm honestly way too immersed in the story to care.
It saddens me so much... VTM:BL was a masterpiece... But - seems it is as cursed as the vampires it depicts. :/ I have ZERO faith that the sequel will offer ANYTHING of value to anyone... ...except perhaps to journalists at VICE.
Paradox has a team doing that one? What I have seen of it is a complete garbage game that is essentially shovelware wearing the name of a beloved game.
I've been following Paradox Interactive ever since EU3 in 2007. I've been there for their ups and downs and I can confidently say that they had been going downhill ever since they went public in 2016. Then in 2018 Fredrik Wester stepped down as the CEO and only came back in 2021 because it was clear things were not working internally. What we're seeing now is still the aftermath of his 2018-21 hiatus, when Paradox was pushing unfinished projects to please the investors and taking on publishing deals that they really shouldn't. I still have hope in them making things straight, but there are some serious changes that need to happen, mainly the bloat of redundant employees that happened between 2018-21.
I wasn't aware of this internal shift but my favorite patches have been from around 2017. Which I now keep permanently that way. EU4 on patch 1.18, Stellaris on patch 1.5 and Hoi4 on 1.3.
Their published games are not really the issue. Honestly CS2 is the only true disasters on that list. It's the in-house stuff thats an actual trashfire.
@@XMysticHerox Uhh, but Cities Skyline 2 was a published game, developed by Colossal Order. But yes the current problems at Paradox also involve their own developers, Victoria 3 was hot garbage at release and objectively still is. Crusader Kings 3 also lags behind in its DLC schedule and still has fewer features compared to CK2. Imperator:Rome died just after 2 years. I won't even mention Stellaris, because that game had 3 full overhauls, each next worse than the previous imo. They brought back the old lead developer for Europa Universalis 5 (technically codenamed in dev diaries as "Project Caesar" but everyone knows it's EU5) from their Barcelona studio, so there are already things happening inside to get things back on track, but otherwise it's quite bleak at Paradox.
Hooded Horse sounds like the kind of publisher I was hoping Embracer was gonna be…filling the AA void all of the AAA publishers created by abandoning smaller projects.
For me was Imperator, and a few Dlcs for CK3 and Stellaris.... i have always been a Paradox fanboy, now i go into their games with the thought they will fail and be shit.
@@Drakiren Imperator was the one for me as well. Game finally got to a good point annnd they abandoned it. I think they abandoned it around when Total War abandoned Three Kingdoms as well? Let me tell you as a strategy gaming fan it really fucking sucks to see the two main strategy game studios left shooting themselves so consistently.
@@Drakiren Honestly Battletech was the last game they published that I actually liked on release. Maybe Planetfall. But pretty much everything else that started development after they went public has been atrocious on release and not much better post release.
One thing worth knowing with regard to Paradox as apublisher is the tale of Sword of the Stars 2. It is something Paradox has been open about. They had the publishing contract back then, and the game got delayed and delayed with Paradox footing the boill for further development, until eventually they had no more to give and forced the developer to publish. It weas a mess, it made Steam rework its refun policy and is notorious for its bad state. That release almost killed Paradox. So Paradox implemented policies and processes that such a thing never happens again, meaning tighter controls, strictly defined milestones and budgets and little tolerance for going over budget. The result is a publisher that is financially healthy, but a degrading amount of quality and a reputation for releases being undercooked.
@@XMysticHerox That's the point. The issue from the perspective of Paradox was less the state, bzut the cost. Sword of the Stars 2 cost them more and more and then never got that money back in. So throwing out a half-done CS2 is Paradox cutting losses, and ensuring the cost doesn't escalate. Ideal case it's profitable, worst case it is a loss, but the rest of Paradox is not dragged down with it.
Funny thing is, I've played and enjoyed Sword of the Stars 2 more, even in its abysmal release state (and it got a lot better with the patches), than I have with any modern Paradox published game. I'd rather play a broken game that has heart than a Disney-style minimum extruded product that has all the character of sandwich lettuce after twelve hours under the fridge lights.
@@XMysticHeroxDon’t forget, CS2 was being made for years, it was scheduled for initial release in 2021 and CO was so far behind it couldn’t be released. Paradox fully funded them for 2 extra years before finally forcing the release. I dislike Paradox, but in specifically the CS2 case, I am not sure it’s 100% Paradox fault. Everyone says Paradox should have gave them more time, i see people say “one more year” all the time - they already gave them 2 more years. At what point is it also equally CO’s fault?
@@mdbourne You say that is if "years" is a particularly outstanding development time. The game was scheduled to release in 2021 by PDX. I doubt that was ever a realistic deadline. Unrealistic deadlines set by the publisher are a common point between many disaster launches and I suspect this was the case here. When you push devs to release a game early then have to delay it completely messe sup the development cycle. Classic mismanagement. With how many PDX titles suffer from these same issues I find it highly unlikely Collosal order is largely responsible. From everything we have heard PDX has simply been pushing the boundary of what is acceptable to release ever since they went public.
Paradox had its issues before going public, but after they did they seem to have practically gone straight off of a cliff. I can't think of a single time where this hasn't happened to any company deciding to go public. Its like drinking pure arsenic mixed with sulphuric acid.
My library is full of PDX-games, EU, VIC, CK, Stellaris, HOI, even the CS basegame + some DLC from a humblebundle. I've become VERY cautious about which of their releases I add to my library. They tend to be undercooked, DLC-heavy moneygraves. My goodwill to this company shrunk to nearly non-existence in the last years.
@@Mr_Spock512 DLC spam also has an effect on game design: if you have n DLCs introducing game mechanics (as opposed to just cosmetics), then you have 2^n combinations of which mechanics might be present. This combinatioral explosion very strongly incentivises making them as self-contained and disconnected from each other as possible.
CK2 is one of my favourite games of all time but I cannot deny that their DLC model is atrocious. I thankfully have all the CK2 DLC. I did grab the free base game for CK2 on Steam though, which has saved some money. Stellaris is fun too, of course but again, lots of DLC and some of it fundamentally changes the game mechanics from the released product. I have EUIV but haven't really tried it yet as it's overwhelming. I don't have CK3. Mostly because I want to try it out once it's completed and all DLCs have been released and it's on a deep Steam sale.
@@cmdr.jabozerstorer3968 sure but most ck2 or europa players i know have a minimum of 300h on it (and it's rooky numbers lol) i played 2500 hours on ck2 each dlc was worth. the problem is current day dlc are empty and they start to look like EA and the Sims....*sigh*. for Ck3 it's in my opinion their last great title, the game is super cool and the dlc ok but waiting for a big -50% bundle on steam is a great idea or play in mutli with just the base game if your friends have the dlc it's unlock it for you
As someone who loved the TTG Federation and Empire and Star Fleet Battles, this Star Trek game looked interesting but I was like "Let me wait until it gets a few DLCs to boost out the content." Glad I waited......
This mentality is bizarre, we can't pick the game at launch because that is the absolute worst version, have to wait for DLCs and whatnot, paying even more money. You shouldn't be "glad", this is 100% anti-consumer
@@RRRRRRRRR33 Steam reviews showed the game had problems with limited content. I am not wasting my money on that hoping it will get better later. Development was shutdown 6 months later proving my decision to hold as accurate. If the Devs/Publishers don't like that, then don't release a game with limited content, performance issues, or tons of bugs.
@@nt78stonewobble So many people waited, never buying the game, the project was shut down. A shame it happened with Star Trek (as a new fan, watching Strange New Worlds, I was excited to try out this game). I remember people considered Paradox the perfect developer for a Game of Thrones game, but looking how they treated Star Trek, GoT fans should be glad, they dodged a bullet
There's a very simple reason why the smaller companies are making ground on the larger ones, its simply game focus. The smaller companies make games to play, and the larger companies make games to pay.
I'm old enough to have brought Europa Universalis 1 & 2 on CD back in the early 00s. These were the good old days of the original team being passionate about their games for the fans. Since whatever suits have come in to the company they are just death by DLC on everything now and abandon anything that doesn't sell well. A real shame.
I've loved Paradox games. I have thousands of hours between Crusader Kings 2&3, Hearts of Iron 4, Victoria 3, and Stellaris. Even their recent DLC content for those games have been clowned on. Manor Lords is on my wishlist.
This is distressing to learn. I couldn't afford to keep up with the expansions on their games, so I stopped playing them. Too much money to get a single puzzle piece.
Paradox's microtransaction policy is most of the problem. They are just notorious for releasing unfinished games and DLCing them to death. When they broke Stellaris, I was done.
@@Kelvryn you've been nickled and dimed cause you play incomplete game. Compare that game to Borderlands 3, The Saboteur, Pocket City 2 or Doom Eternal they are complete games even without dlcs
@@Eltener123well of course there is more replay ability. You have to restart due to their games breaking so much. The other games PowerfulShammy mentioned just let you keep going with no issues.
I’ve been a long time player of the Stellaris Trek mods, and when Star Trek: Infinite was announced jumped on it and pre-ordered. When it launched I was excited, loaded it up, and then was very confused. No map customizations, only four playable sides, the same setup for every game. Star Trek is about exploration, diversity… and this… wasn’t that. So I figured I’d wait until they fixed and added onto it, and went back to Stellaris mods (with ‘infinite’ possible setups and over 80 playable races). Five months later I went to check the progress, as even back in February they promised the game was still being developed, and there was the end of updates post. From everything I see, the game is still broken for multiplayer and has countless bugs - it’s not even a functional game. Yet that final dev blog update hasn’t even been put on the official store page, unlike every other. So people on Steam won’t even know it’s broken and won’t change unless they check out user reviews. It’s such a shame that this was launched far too early.
Star Trek has never been about Diversity. It's literally always been about "The Human Adventure", I mean that was the tag line for the first damn movie........ I hate so much that stupid people who don't know Star Trek have been gifted Star Trek.
@@slyguythreeonetwonine3172 It is true that diversity has changed in definition, expanding in some regards. Classic TOS was founded on diversity in the midst of the Cold War. A crew made of many nationalities, some even in conflict with each other at the time. Even an alien crew member. Pushing the limits of what was acceptable, including by having a woman on the bridge crew. Since then every crew has been carefully curated to represent different perspectives, pushing the limits of how we perceive a functional group of individuals working towards a similar goal for the benefit of all. I definitely don’t agree with all the creative decisions, particularly in Star Trek Discovery, however it is important to the franchise that it keeps pushing the limits. The series has been inspiring in so many ways, and the fact that so many people can see so many different things to value is a testament to how the franchise has evolved and shaped our understanding.
Same, loved the mod, long time Stellaris player and a massive trek fan. Pre ordered because I believed it would be a typical paradox game (okay-ish at launch but better over time). Launched on the first day and it was just so underwhelming and also just plain confusing. Played for about 4 hours on and off but decided to wait until they fixed it... This sadly has been the first paradox game for me that was the warning (CS2 being the next). Sadly Paradox are now no longer a wishlist/day one dev for me now.
As someone who only plays Stellaris out of the paradox library and has loved every update they've released for it since launch (which is an unpopular opinion apparently) I am very sad to see how bad everything else has gotten; I certainly won't be touching anything else from the company, but I hope like hell that if everything falls through the stellaris dev team can either find a way through it or get picked up by another studio and continue working
I own quite a few Paradox games and with the handling of Cities 2 I'm done with them. If something releases and it has the Paradox branding anywhere on it I won't be picking it up.
Anyone remembers when PDX first tried to become a publisher and released games like East Indies company and that one time traveling Gettysburg game? They have a long history of not having a good publishing arm.
You don't need insider knowledge to know how little Paradox cares about anything they publish. Their track record speaks for itself. Buying anything they published is a coin flip that you're getting trash.
i remember when prison architect was developed by a small team of talented devs who put their heart and soul into the product. and then paradox interactive bought it while it was still in development and turned it into the average paradox product. such a shame.
Prison Architect wasn't really in development anymore. 1.0 release years before Paradox bought it, and Introversion wasn't really adding much to the game anymore and was, as per the devs, kind of done with it.
I think PARADOX reached out to Manor Lords about a partnership. I believe that the creator of Manor Lords, being a gamer himself, was aware that unending DLCs would eventually ruin the game and refused to do so.
Didn't buy cities skylines 2, didn't buy any DLC for HOI4, didn't buy Imperator Rome, didn't buy Crusader Kings 4, all of them are titles I would have bought if they didn't release half a game then release the next half a little bit at a time over the next three years for a stupid amount of money. No fucking way.
This situation reminds me of the changing of the guard with RPG publishers in the late 90's/early 2000's, where the giants of the 80's and early 90's dropped ball after ball while other studios that are now household names laid the groundwork for their own achieving of that status.
I've already resisted the urge to buy Millenia and hit the 'Ignore' button on Foundry and Prison Architect 2 specifically because of the Paradox connection - the damage is done.
Maybe someone should nominate Paradox for a Golden Poo award, if that's still a thing. Then they really can be the EA of Europe...though I guess they have to fight over that title with Embracer.
If indie devs are the guiding light for progress in interesting directions in the PC space then Hooded Horse is one of the brilliant flashes in that light. They've been pretty damn consistent when it comes to interesting titles of late.
@@nahuelleandroarroyo Honestly TI is one of those games that I'm kinda "Who the hell cares about balance? There's no other game like this, I've no idea what I'm doing anyway, I'm just going to enjoy the ride."
It was not just that mods had more dev time, the game came out empty of content. To rub it in the lore was not correct, the fan mods have lore bibles. Pardox was a golden dev of PC game's, there burning there brand.
When you take shortcuts and assume the brand can keep taking hits and still be of value, the brand stops being like Nintendo’s seal of approval and more like the LJN logo.
The Paradox logo has already been a mark of shame in the sense that every Paradox game in the last few years had a load of DLC that was kind of required to get the full experience. Not that that's necessarily bad, but I definitely never bought a Paradox base game at full price, because there will be more costs to play the "full" game.
Which is mad as not too long ago they were the darlings of the niche genre strategy/sim game. I remember when a large part was bought by outside investors and people saying it was the end. And so it seems, we've seen enhsittification cycle yet again.
@@Benjamin.Jamin. "Not long" has unfortunately had a way of being ten years or so by now. To an entire generation of gamers this is all they have ever been.
Paradox has been on a long downward spiral. I moved from Total War in ~2010 to Paradox games for EU3 and was very happy there for a while, then a few years ago moved to Slitherine games for Shadow Empire, Distant Worlds 2 and more. Slitherine so far has been consistent, even though their games are always somewhat flawed they're unique in filling strategy niches in a relatively approachable way while still being very deep. Paradox was hitting the depth/complexity sweet spot (max depth, min complexity) with the EU4 launch and were still good for quite a while but then just fell of a cliff, although HoI4 DLC held on longer. I hope Paradox can turn around, but I'm beyond hope for Creative Assembly as they were already bad enough for me to stop buying their games before the substantial time I spent at Paradox, and then at Slitherine after.
I miss old Paradox, the passionate people who made Victoria 2 despite leadership thinking it wouldn't be profitable (it was very profitable) and leadership agreeing to take that chance. kinda went down when they became DLC crazy and really went down after their IPO. Good for hooded horse. Paradox needs competition, they're too complacent and while I didn't quite mesh well Hooded horse games I gotta admit they're very unique, very interesting. great games.
I was a massive fan of Paradox, I own all of their core titles and their DLC from CK2 to Victoria 3 but their standards are dropping and they weren't that high to begin with. Apart from Age of Wonder 4, they haven't blown me away with any of their titles for years. Even their DLCs are breaking their games and it has taken its toll. The quality drop from what I can tell has been going on since they went public in 2016.
I'm terrified of what they're doing to Foundry. I've been waiting forever for the game, and it was essentially done in 2022, but PDX has had them make changes, and I'm scared of what those changes will be.
The amount of game Hooded Horse has coming out soon (TM), is astounding and I've been following half a dozen of them. They are really taking their time, assumingly, to get things right.
Mariina Hallikainen: "we will not release new paid content for city skylines 2 before the outstanding performance issues are fixed", CO word of the week #2, 6/11/23 🤔🤑
If you pursue quantity, quality could suffer. If you pursue quality, quantity is always an opportunity. Smaller companies are choosing quality. Larger companies are choosing quantity.
Im so glad I never pursued a career in game development. I knew it would inevitably get wallstreet attention again and they would turn it into this while trying to maximize profits.
I've been playing strategy games since Civ first came out. Tried Paradox games and quickly found that they lean heavily into DLC to round out games. So having been burnt by them I'm so pleased to see Hooded Horse breaking through with well developed games. I own a few from their portfolio and the experience is so much better. Simply put, I'm not worried about buying their games. PS. Background music sounds like Terra Nil. Another great little game to destress
I bought Star Trek Infinite on sale with the assumption that it was a paradox game and they would release constant updates and DLC for years so it would get better. Now that they just gave me the finger guess who's games I'll no longer be buying until LOOOOONG after they have been on the market and getting updates. Good luck Paradox. This is a new death spiral loop you have set yourself into, not the gamers.
They have completely fumbled the bag on Crusader kings 3 on console no communication game still broken months later why release on console if you weren't gonna support the game
Because they got your money and there's nothing you can do to change it. Never ever buy a Paradox game on console - they don't care about console gamers.
As someone who has been playing civ for 8 years, I think you hit the nail on the head with that point. 4x games these days are very complex and take a long time to learn, so if I already have 800 hours in civ 6 and own all the DLC, I'm not going to switch to something else unless it really seems polished and does things that civ doesn't. The only one of these "civ imitators" that I've actually bought and played is Old World, because, while it doesn't have everything that civ 6 has, it does bring interesting mechanics to the table that civ doesn't (families, court politics, events, having a more narrow era focus) and feels like a well-made product, rather than just a civ clone that some studio rushed out to try to make a quick buck.
PDX right now has basically three games Hearts of Iron 4, Europa Universalis 4 and Crusader Kings 3, most of recent games have been misses like Cities Skylines 2, Vicky 3. Lets hope new EU5 will be good...
@@niaraa8378 EU4 is oldest of their main games and Tinto already worked on 5 EU4 DLCs since 2021. Either this or Johan wants to make IR 2 and make every EU player mad.
@@Vince-tt1uj i agree, for me it's EU5, but they trolled the Victoria gamer a long time too lol. i dont know why they dont reveal it already each content creator i follow on YT already sowed maps and stuff. i think they are extra cautious they know they had a lot of L
@@FasterthanLight11 Yes! I have not played the early access release but the demo was excellent and that was a while ago. As per usual I have way too much yet to play - I think the point has been proven. Hooded Horse are one to watch.
Some other studio's that comes up with a new Grand Strategy gamingmodel that works and Paradox can slowly start packing their bags. A lack of choice is keeping their lights running, at this point.
All this "suit - run" companies are now quicker and quicker going under since those just care for "more money quick" and don't realise that money (as a tool) doesn't work any more these days. Those suits just join a company for their CV and when they see that it's not profitable for them to be there, they move on to the next. The quality of a product doesn't matter any more, just engagement and market share. Luckily AI will soon replace suits (since those "jobs" are easily manageable by AI) and support actual creators and craftsman that want to make good products but are hindered by suits. Since suits also earn far more money than those people actually creating a product it would boost a companies a lot by removing people that only suck out money and damage brands due to corruption and rushed release policy. Coming generations will have to return to learn productive and creative craftsmanship since all the money handling and "just talking" jobs will get replaced by much more efficient AI's. I just hope this transition will happen soon enough so i can see those useless subjects of society whine and craftsmanship return to a new golden age.
I've been playing Paradox games for more than a decade because I used to love their focus on niche, complicated games. I haven't bought any of their new releases, not even Crusader Kings 3. They've tried to broaden their public by dumbing down and in general sloppier work. I'm perfectly content keeping playing me old games sadly enough.
You saying Paradox's label means "Danger: Minefield" is something it's already meant to me for years. As good as their games may be, I steer clear of them for the most part because I don't want to be DLC'd to death for minor upgrades and additions to their games. They've already taught me that my time, attention, and most importantly to them, my money is better spent elsewhere because of their habits.
Every gamer who got into Paradox games pre-2010ish "They're that company that makes niche wargames that no-one else makes, and patches them for years after release." Every gamer who heard about Paradox in the past ten years: "Aren't they that company with $400 of DLC on every game?" Can't quite put my finger on what changed, it's subtle.
As someone with over 1000 hours in CK2, CK3 is also kind of a debacle. It's been saved by modders, but all the official DLC has been stuff that should have been in the base game.
CS2 is not Paradox fault tho. That lies squarely on CO. They had a 3 year extension and they completely fumbled it. Their vision was too grand and their abilities too poor. I don't think it's fair to blame Paradox for that.
When companies aim for the cash first and forgets about players having fun, then they should not be surprised when players are no longer there. I understand that delays might happen but this means that processes must be reviewed. Not rushed.
Paradox got successful because no-one else made games like Paradox, and they got away with a lot because of that. Now other people make "games like Paradox" better than they do. It's sad when indies turn into majors and turn out to be just like the majors before them, but it's nice to see that new indies step in to fill the void. I truly wish Paradox still made games like Paradox used to, but I'm glad that we don't NEED them to, because other people do and we can just vote with our wallets. The niches are still being filled.
Wow surprising, a project made with love and passion is better then one made with the focus to use as little money as possible, trying to make as much money as possible.
Workers and Resources keep their game constantly updated with FREE patches, that introduce new mechanics (plumbing, waste management, nuclear power plants...) plus it's so mod friendly you can literally make your own house and car and put it in game. Hooded horse allowing them to upgrade the game for free and not forcing them to launch paid DLC's speaks volumes
For me at least, it's already a warning sign that a game is involved with paradox. I love 4x games, but I held off on buying millennium specifically because it was published by pdx.
Been excited for Manor Lords for years. Been on my Wishlist since it came out on Steam and was following the developed on, at that time Twitter, for ages. Cannot wait for this game man. I also previously automatically purchased things from Paradox but now nah. They're releasing fubar left and right
There needs to be some type of legality or restriction behind a game being marked as "Early Access" because it gets abused too much in the gaming industry.
I didn't even know Star Trek Infinite was even a thing until this video. I'm not sure if that says more about me or about Paradox's marketing, however.
From my understanding, paradox was actually approached by the rights holders of Star Trek about making the game and wanting to use Stellaris engine and assets to quickly release a game. They agreed because it’s literally free money but didn’t make the game, they basically just let someone use one of their engines to make a game and published it for them since it was their engine. Now the company that owns the people who made the game is imploding and has basically dissolved the team that made the game and paradox, as the publisher, is left to tell everyone “shows over.” Even though they didn’t really have much of a say in whether or not the dev studio got vaporized to keep embracer in business.
This does not stoke confidence in the new stellaris DLC coming out soon. I will be waiting for reviews for sure, tho the last 2 were a bit half baked at launch as well but what was coming out about it was that it wasn't half baked.
Honestly the marketing for the game did not sell what made it unique from Stellaris, because it does have unique features. There is a branching story system in the game that lets you tackle what happened in canon and also what if scenarios for decisions like what would happen if the Klingons allied with the Romulans instead of the Federation. I only just found out about this now through reading reviews after hearing the game would not be getting updates :(
Overbloated teams must be HEAVILLY pruned. Too many people in the upper industry didn't earn the jobs they are in. Now the bubble is bursting for mainstream gaming companies, they have to remove those wastes and drains of resources. We're seeing it here and in business sectors completely outside of the Gaming Industry.
Join us at bellular.games for early access content, 20 editions of 'Loading Screen' a month and to support our team!
Stellaris, Age of Wonders 4, Crusader Kings 3, Harts of Iron 4, Pillers of Eternity series, Imperator: Rome, Shadowrun series, Europa Universalis IV, Surviving Mars, Surviving the Aftermath, Tyranny. Paradox is a great publisher from where I'm sitting. I only buy DLC for Stellaris though. The next DLC looks to be awesome for us Machine empires...lol
Paradox is one of those studios... they have produced some great games. But, they have also suffered from small studio problems. A game I used to really enjoy, Magicka: Wizard Wars, a pvp only, micro transaction led Free to Play Moba-like, was shut down by Paradox after not building enough of a player base.
Even with F2P and micro transactions, Magcka stood out as a stellar entry into the pvp space of Magicka. Featuring true balance, skill-based, hot-key game play, there isn't another game that has done pvp better.
Simply put, they struck gold with the design of their game, but failed to attract enough players to Get Rich Quickly. Line wasn't going up, game development saw updates and additions, even going so far as to release themed sets and cosmetics with 'power' tied to them.
The problem? When Paradox shut down Magicka: Wizard Wars, they didn't leave it in a playable state. All the money players spent on items, the items themselves, and the game, shut down for good.
Today, you can play Magicka: Wizard Wars by installing a user maintained client and playing online through steam. All of the items have been made available for free, players can customize their wizards fully and there isn't anything to pay anymore.
Check out the Magicka: Wizard Wars Reborn discord for more info.
"The Initial Content Was Disappointing" is the entire Paradox business model.
Not always. Even just 5 years ago they initial game was just fine. Imperator was the first warning sign and it has been downhill from there. Curiosly most of the games before that started development before they went public...
@@XMysticHerox Believe me. The initial releases of Hearts of Iron 3 oder Victoria 2 were everything but fine. Sengoku or March of the Eagles were even worse, barely falling into the definition of a game, being more similiar to a tech demo. Paradox releases nowadays are far better than fifteen years ago.
I think the main difference between now and then is just, that the Paradox fanbase has grown far larger than before and Paradox old buisness model has reached a breaking point. Monetizing every feature of your game in smaller and smaller portions while people being obviously tired by sequels releasing with less content than there predecessors (Looking at you CK 3, CS 2 and ESPECIALLY Victoria 3) can't be a model for the future.
@@MrJenkins222 Neither HoI3 nor Victoria 2 had PDXs modern DLC policy so this does not fit your narrative at all.
As for CK3. I'd say it had more content than CK2 on release. Significantly so even. CS2 as well. It's issues were more on a technical level.
That a game is not going to release with years worth of DLC should be obvious.
@@XMysticHerox CK3 also has CK2 to pull from though and the additional features are minimal if you consider that fact. Sure, its got a reskin also, but really it is barebones intentionally for the sake of expansions.
A.K.A. Minimum Viable Product
Go public -> Focus shifts to quarterly profits at expense of long term growth -> quality goes down but the CEO managed to cash in on his stock options.
I remember when they announced it and they did a Stellaris stream before it came out, The CEO was there and said it will not impact on how they work. everyone in the stream was calling them BS back than too
i dont understand the logic. why would i agree to a contract that secures me stock options than ruin its worth? and wasnt Frederik Wester a founding member of paradox? im pretty sure he is the founder. with 33% Westerinvest, of which Frederik Wester is also CEO, holds by far the biggest share of the company. why would he want to ruin his lifeproject in which he is heavily invested?
@@MrDschiesusmoney now is always a compelling argument.
1- grabs idea from a mod
2- release as standalone game with less content than said mod
Modern gaming
This is a huge part of why everyone's pissed at Cities Skylines II, yeah. People would have been happy if they'd just copied the popular mods, but no, they couldn't even copy things properly.
The mod had the advantage of an entire games worth of assets and coding they could repurpose.
Making a complete game is a lot of work!
@@Satook Doesn't matter, if you can't compete with what's already out, then you shouldn't aim for that audience then.
@@Satook you know who also had a whole game of assets and code to reuse? The people making CS2!
@@pfeilspitze I doubt you will find a mod maker for CS1 that would not want their mod copied and added to the main game. Why the hell do you think they add those features via the mod? They want it in the game.
The problem with CS2 is that if feels like it just got kicked out 3/4 done. So many things feel like another year or two they would of been cleaned up and fixed, but they just barely got things "working" and had to shove it out the door. Maybe one day we will find out why, maybe the devs couldn't hack it or maybe Paradox had a fixed deadline and refused to budge.
Paradox have been keeping their shareholders happy rather than their customers. Which in the long term means broke shareholders and former customers.
Oh, no, the shareholders will be fine. They'll cash out, walk away, and invest in the next company willing to run itself into the ground in the pursuit of quarterly growth. That is the problem with going public, you end up catering to people with no loyalty to your company and no interest in your long term success.
Shareholders ARE the customers.
@@panmajin6895 No they're the owners.
@@sig9779 That's not the way it works. The value of the stock goes down as the company starts to fail.
That's very very very long term.
Unfortunately most gamers don't have any self respect. They are vocal when something bad releases, but still play it anyway
Paradox being one of the largest strategy game publishers, it's truly sad to see so many of their games feel incomplete without an additional $40 dlc instead of the dlc adding onto an already great product
Mi Amigo, they've been doing that shit for the last 6 years at least. Probably longer. I know Crusader's Kings has 9 million DLC's and at a certain point you gotta start to wonder how much of this was probably in the base game at some point.
Paradox thinks it can get double the pay for half the work.
They just lost a life time customer this year.
@@Vaniity_Velvet They've been doing it since at least 2014 when _Stellaris_ came out.
$40 dlc? More like 10 of those.
Cities skylines is a prime example
I'm glad you covered this. I had a friend tell me he was excited for Star Trek Infinite when it launched and that he was sure Paradox would continue to build on it like they do with all their games. But then I told him about Empire of Sin and to not get too comfortable.
Just a little note about Empire of Sin, Paradox sold a season pass for several DLC and just haven't made the last one, the developer is long gone and they are still selling it on Steam, just basically fraud.
Crazy I tried it on game pass and it was pretty fun, but it crashed constantly.
Empire of Sin is a pretty fun game but has so many bugs that I just had to stop playing it. Played it for free basically so don't feel ripped off but it is a shame.
I doubt those who bought cs2 expanded will get their dlc's. And even they get the dlc's it likely going to be like the latest asset pack, 'sunset crash' something of a tiny value.
preordered it because the Romero couple was at the helm, and I thought Romero is a good enough name to bet on
turns out... the Romero name aint worth a damn.
@@ChemyShwe've known this since daikatana xD
Watch their next disaster: Bloodlines 2.
Oh boy, you just went out and said it, didn't you. Let people just have their hopes and dreams, man.
@@TheMrDewil "hopes and dreams" 🔫 Paradox
Yeah, just can't wait for that. /s
It's such a shame too, considering that I'm literally halfway through of yet another playthrough of the original and the 20 y.o. game is still super enjoyable. Sure, the graphics feel a bit like Wolfenstein 3D did when VtMB came out, but once again I'm honestly way too immersed in the story to care.
It saddens me so much... VTM:BL was a masterpiece...
But - seems it is as cursed as the vampires it depicts. :/
I have ZERO faith that the sequel will offer ANYTHING of value to anyone...
...except perhaps to journalists at VICE.
Paradox has a team doing that one? What I have seen of it is a complete garbage game that is essentially shovelware wearing the name of a beloved game.
I've been following Paradox Interactive ever since EU3 in 2007. I've been there for their ups and downs and I can confidently say that they had been going downhill ever since they went public in 2016. Then in 2018 Fredrik Wester stepped down as the CEO and only came back in 2021 because it was clear things were not working internally.
What we're seeing now is still the aftermath of his 2018-21 hiatus, when Paradox was pushing unfinished projects to please the investors and taking on publishing deals that they really shouldn't.
I still have hope in them making things straight, but there are some serious changes that need to happen, mainly the bloat of redundant employees that happened between 2018-21.
Interesting never knew that
I wasn't aware of this internal shift but my favorite patches have been from around 2017. Which I now keep permanently that way. EU4 on patch 1.18, Stellaris on patch 1.5 and Hoi4 on 1.3.
Their published games are not really the issue. Honestly CS2 is the only true disasters on that list. It's the in-house stuff thats an actual trashfire.
@@XMysticHerox Uhh, but Cities Skyline 2 was a published game, developed by Colossal Order.
But yes the current problems at Paradox also involve their own developers, Victoria 3 was hot garbage at release and objectively still is. Crusader Kings 3 also lags behind in its DLC schedule and still has fewer features compared to CK2. Imperator:Rome died just after 2 years. I won't even mention Stellaris, because that game had 3 full overhauls, each next worse than the previous imo.
They brought back the old lead developer for Europa Universalis 5 (technically codenamed in dev diaries as "Project Caesar" but everyone knows it's EU5) from their Barcelona studio, so there are already things happening inside to get things back on track, but otherwise it's quite bleak at Paradox.
@@55ziomal55 Wdym "but"? Yes the exception I mentioned is an exception.
Hooded Horse sounds like the kind of publisher I was hoping Embracer was gonna be…filling the AA void all of the AAA publishers created by abandoning smaller projects.
Victoria III was the one that made me distrust their new releases
For me was Imperator, and a few Dlcs for CK3 and Stellaris.... i have always been a Paradox fanboy, now i go into their games with the thought they will fail and be shit.
@@Drakiren Imperator was the one for me as well. Game finally got to a good point annnd they abandoned it.
I think they abandoned it around when Total War abandoned Three Kingdoms as well?
Let me tell you as a strategy gaming fan it really fucking sucks to see the two main strategy game studios left shooting themselves so consistently.
Never played but I saw it was super dumb down compared to 2, in a Strategy nerd review
@@Drakiren Honestly Battletech was the last game they published that I actually liked on release. Maybe Planetfall. But pretty much everything else that started development after they went public has been atrocious on release and not much better post release.
@@XMysticHeroxthat they dismantled that studio after Battletech was a crime
Paradox lives long enough to become the villian of this genre.
One thing worth knowing with regard to Paradox as apublisher is the tale of Sword of the Stars 2. It is something Paradox has been open about.
They had the publishing contract back then, and the game got delayed and delayed with Paradox footing the boill for further development, until eventually they had no more to give and forced the developer to publish. It weas a mess, it made Steam rework its refun policy and is notorious for its bad state.
That release almost killed Paradox.
So Paradox implemented policies and processes that such a thing never happens again, meaning tighter controls, strictly defined milestones and budgets and little tolerance for going over budget. The result is a publisher that is financially healthy, but a degrading amount of quality and a reputation for releases being undercooked.
You say that yet they just pushed CS2 to release in the state it released in. Which is not quite Sword of the Stars 2 level but not far off either.
@@XMysticHerox
That's the point.
The issue from the perspective of Paradox was less the state, bzut the cost. Sword of the Stars 2 cost them more and more and then never got that money back in.
So throwing out a half-done CS2 is Paradox cutting losses, and ensuring the cost doesn't escalate.
Ideal case it's profitable, worst case it is a loss, but the rest of Paradox is not dragged down with it.
Funny thing is, I've played and enjoyed Sword of the Stars 2 more, even in its abysmal release state (and it got a lot better with the patches), than I have with any modern Paradox published game.
I'd rather play a broken game that has heart than a Disney-style minimum extruded product that has all the character of sandwich lettuce after twelve hours under the fridge lights.
@@XMysticHeroxDon’t forget, CS2 was being made for years, it was scheduled for initial release in 2021 and CO was so far behind it couldn’t be released. Paradox fully funded them for 2 extra years before finally forcing the release. I dislike Paradox, but in specifically the CS2 case, I am not sure it’s 100% Paradox fault. Everyone says Paradox should have gave them more time, i see people say “one more year” all the time - they already gave them 2 more years. At what point is it also equally CO’s fault?
@@mdbourne You say that is if "years" is a particularly outstanding development time.
The game was scheduled to release in 2021 by PDX. I doubt that was ever a realistic deadline. Unrealistic deadlines set by the publisher are a common point between many disaster launches and I suspect this was the case here.
When you push devs to release a game early then have to delay it completely messe sup the development cycle. Classic mismanagement.
With how many PDX titles suffer from these same issues I find it highly unlikely Collosal order is largely responsible. From everything we have heard PDX has simply been pushing the boundary of what is acceptable to release ever since they went public.
They definitely took their customers for granted. I'm glad to see competition giving them a reality check.
Paradox had its issues before going public, but after they did they seem to have practically gone straight off of a cliff. I can't think of a single time where this hasn't happened to any company deciding to go public. Its like drinking pure arsenic mixed with sulphuric acid.
My library is full of PDX-games, EU, VIC, CK, Stellaris, HOI, even the CS basegame + some DLC from a humblebundle.
I've become VERY cautious about which of their releases I add to my library. They tend to be undercooked, DLC-heavy moneygraves.
My goodwill to this company shrunk to nearly non-existence in the last years.
Same here, I'm all Paradox'ed out ... their never ending DLC spam has soured me on the company and I don't even look at their products anymore.
@@Mr_Spock512 DLC spam also has an effect on game design: if you have n DLCs introducing game mechanics (as opposed to just cosmetics), then you have 2^n combinations of which mechanics might be present. This combinatioral explosion very strongly incentivises making them as self-contained and disconnected from each other as possible.
CK2 is one of my favourite games of all time but I cannot deny that their DLC model is atrocious. I thankfully have all the CK2 DLC. I did grab the free base game for CK2 on Steam though, which has saved some money. Stellaris is fun too, of course but again, lots of DLC and some of it fundamentally changes the game mechanics from the released product. I have EUIV but haven't really tried it yet as it's overwhelming.
I don't have CK3. Mostly because I want to try it out once it's completed and all DLCs have been released and it's on a deep Steam sale.
i guess we are all in that spot now.
@@cmdr.jabozerstorer3968 sure but most ck2 or europa players i know have a minimum of 300h on it (and it's rooky numbers lol) i played 2500 hours on ck2 each dlc was worth. the problem is current day dlc are empty and they start to look like EA and the Sims....*sigh*. for Ck3 it's in my opinion their last great title, the game is super cool and the dlc ok but waiting for a big -50% bundle on steam is a great idea or play in mutli with just the base game if your friends have the dlc it's unlock it for you
As someone who loved the TTG Federation and Empire and Star Fleet Battles, this Star Trek game looked interesting but I was like "Let me wait until it gets a few DLCs to boost out the content." Glad I waited......
This mentality is bizarre, we can't pick the game at launch because that is the absolute worst version, have to wait for DLCs and whatnot, paying even more money. You shouldn't be "glad", this is 100% anti-consumer
@@RRRRRRRRR33 Steam reviews showed the game had problems with limited content. I am not wasting my money on that hoping it will get better later. Development was shutdown 6 months later proving my decision to hold as accurate.
If the Devs/Publishers don't like that, then don't release a game with limited content, performance issues, or tons of bugs.
That's exactly how I felt about the star trek game. Seems a little limited right now, maybe when there's a bit more content.
@@nt78stonewobble So many people waited, never buying the game, the project was shut down. A shame it happened with Star Trek (as a new fan, watching Strange New Worlds, I was excited to try out this game). I remember people considered Paradox the perfect developer for a Game of Thrones game, but looking how they treated Star Trek, GoT fans should be glad, they dodged a bullet
@@RRRRRRRRR33 Heh, I'm the other way around. I have no interest in the new trek stuff. :)
Probably doesn't help that the fan base is that... Divided.
There's a very simple reason why the smaller companies are making ground on the larger ones, its simply game focus.
The smaller companies make games to play, and the larger companies make games to pay.
Age of Wonders 4 is actually pretty good. I love playing it. Since this is a Paradox published title tho, I expected the worst.
Sometimes they are hands off , and leave a Dev alone
Their modern published titles are fine for the most part. CS2 has been the only recent disaster.
@@XMysticHerox Humankind is pretty horrendous tbh
@@Nightsmith_After_Dark That game was always going to suck. They tried to be the next Sid Meyer's Civilization instead of its own thing.
It was a trash game especially compared to 3 and planetfall
I'm old enough to have brought Europa Universalis 1 & 2 on CD back in the early 00s. These were the good old days of the original team being passionate about their games for the fans. Since whatever suits have come in to the company they are just death by DLC on everything now and abandon anything that doesn't sell well. A real shame.
Didn't even mention all of this started to head downhill when they went public...
I've loved Paradox games. I have thousands of hours between Crusader Kings 2&3, Hearts of Iron 4, Victoria 3, and Stellaris. Even their recent DLC content for those games have been clowned on. Manor Lords is on my wishlist.
This is distressing to learn. I couldn't afford to keep up with the expansions on their games, so I stopped playing them. Too much money to get a single puzzle piece.
Paradox's microtransaction policy is most of the problem. They are just notorious for releasing unfinished games and DLCing them to death. When they broke Stellaris, I was done.
Stellaris is working fine. I have almost 2500 hours in it.
Yeah, they'd rather nickel and dime than fix their messes.
@@Kelvryn you've been nickled and dimed cause you play incomplete game. Compare that game to Borderlands 3, The Saboteur, Pocket City 2 or Doom Eternal they are complete games even without dlcs
@@powerfulshammythere's arguably a tonne more replay ability compared to any of those games
@@Eltener123well of course there is more replay ability.
You have to restart due to their games breaking so much.
The other games PowerfulShammy mentioned just let you keep going with no issues.
I’ve been a long time player of the Stellaris Trek mods, and when Star Trek: Infinite was announced jumped on it and pre-ordered. When it launched I was excited, loaded it up, and then was very confused. No map customizations, only four playable sides, the same setup for every game. Star Trek is about exploration, diversity… and this… wasn’t that. So I figured I’d wait until they fixed and added onto it, and went back to Stellaris mods (with ‘infinite’ possible setups and over 80 playable races). Five months later I went to check the progress, as even back in February they promised the game was still being developed, and there was the end of updates post. From everything I see, the game is still broken for multiplayer and has countless bugs - it’s not even a functional game. Yet that final dev blog update hasn’t even been put on the official store page, unlike every other. So people on Steam won’t even know it’s broken and won’t change unless they check out user reviews. It’s such a shame that this was launched far too early.
Star Trek has never been about Diversity.
It's literally always been about "The Human Adventure", I mean that was the tag line for the first damn movie........
I hate so much that stupid people who don't know Star Trek have been gifted Star Trek.
@@slyguythreeonetwonine3172 It is true that diversity has changed in definition, expanding in some regards. Classic TOS was founded on diversity in the midst of the Cold War. A crew made of many nationalities, some even in conflict with each other at the time. Even an alien crew member. Pushing the limits of what was acceptable, including by having a woman on the bridge crew. Since then every crew has been carefully curated to represent different perspectives, pushing the limits of how we perceive a functional group of individuals working towards a similar goal for the benefit of all.
I definitely don’t agree with all the creative decisions, particularly in Star Trek Discovery, however it is important to the franchise that it keeps pushing the limits. The series has been inspiring in so many ways, and the fact that so many people can see so many different things to value is a testament to how the franchise has evolved and shaped our understanding.
Same, loved the mod, long time Stellaris player and a massive trek fan. Pre ordered because I believed it would be a typical paradox game (okay-ish at launch but better over time). Launched on the first day and it was just so underwhelming and also just plain confusing.
Played for about 4 hours on and off but decided to wait until they fixed it... This sadly has been the first paradox game for me that was the warning (CS2 being the next). Sadly Paradox are now no longer a wishlist/day one dev for me now.
As someone who only plays Stellaris out of the paradox library and has loved every update they've released for it since launch (which is an unpopular opinion apparently) I am very sad to see how bad everything else has gotten; I certainly won't be touching anything else from the company, but I hope like hell that if everything falls through the stellaris dev team can either find a way through it or get picked up by another studio and continue working
I own quite a few Paradox games and with the handling of Cities 2 I'm done with them. If something releases and it has the Paradox branding anywhere on it I won't be picking it up.
Sadly this is the correct response to Paradox now . Such a shame as i loved their games .
Anyone remembers when PDX first tried to become a publisher and released games like East Indies company and that one time traveling Gettysburg game? They have a long history of not having a good publishing arm.
Hell, sword of the stars 2. They seemed to have learned their lesson, but apparently not.
You don't need insider knowledge to know how little Paradox cares about anything they publish. Their track record speaks for itself. Buying anything they published is a coin flip that you're getting trash.
Yet another domino in the "AAA" tower falls. The Old are withering away under their own hubris, making way for the New.
i remember when prison architect was developed by a small team of talented devs who put their heart and soul into the product. and then paradox interactive bought it while it was still in development and turned it into the average paradox product. such a shame.
Prison Architect wasn't really in development anymore. 1.0 release years before Paradox bought it, and Introversion wasn't really adding much to the game anymore and was, as per the devs, kind of done with it.
I think PARADOX reached out to Manor Lords about a partnership. I believe that the creator of Manor Lords, being a gamer himself, was aware that unending DLCs would eventually ruin the game and refused to do so.
I hope so. I'm waiting for Manor Lords.
I hope so. I'm waiting for Manor Lords.
Hooded horse is the new paradox. I think I have bought every one of their published games but one.
Didn't buy cities skylines 2, didn't buy any DLC for HOI4, didn't buy Imperator Rome, didn't buy Crusader Kings 4, all of them are titles I would have bought if they didn't release half a game then release the next half a little bit at a time over the next three years for a stupid amount of money. No fucking way.
This situation reminds me of the changing of the guard with RPG publishers in the late 90's/early 2000's, where the giants of the 80's and early 90's dropped ball after ball while other studios that are now household names laid the groundwork for their own achieving of that status.
Hooded Horse started popping up in my ads a few years ago and I haven't been disappointed by the games they published that I played so far!
I've already resisted the urge to buy Millenia and hit the 'Ignore' button on Foundry and Prison Architect 2 specifically because of the Paradox connection - the damage is done.
Maybe someone should nominate Paradox for a Golden Poo award, if that's still a thing. Then they really can be the EA of Europe...though I guess they have to fight over that title with Embracer.
My oh my are we early this time around!
If indie devs are the guiding light for progress in interesting directions in the PC space then Hooded Horse is one of the brilliant flashes in that light. They've been pretty damn consistent when it comes to interesting titles of late.
After the latest CS2 DLC they can.... I can't say it on TH-cam.
Terra Invicta Mentioned! What the fuck is a tutorial!!!!! I fucking love that game
What the f is balance!!!!! (Like raising unity or the other that obly moves country stats temprarily)
@@nahuelleandroarroyo tbh the nation management feels pretty decent in my opinion, the balance issues seem to come from other places
@@nahuelleandroarroyo Honestly TI is one of those games that I'm kinda "Who the hell cares about balance? There's no other game like this, I've no idea what I'm doing anyway, I'm just going to enjoy the ride."
It was not just that mods had more dev time, the game came out empty of content. To rub it in the lore was not correct, the fan mods have lore bibles.
Pardox was a golden dev of PC game's, there burning there brand.
Melennia -> Millennia in the description.
Melania
@@ereviscale3966Melanin?
When you take shortcuts and assume the brand can keep taking hits and still be of value, the brand stops being like Nintendo’s seal of approval and more like the LJN logo.
The Paradox logo has already been a mark of shame in the sense that every Paradox game in the last few years had a load of DLC that was kind of required to get the full experience. Not that that's necessarily bad, but I definitely never bought a Paradox base game at full price, because there will be more costs to play the "full" game.
I personally love Hooded Horse and they deserve our support.
I think we've surpassed the point of greed. I now believe that Paradox is evil.
Always have been...with their ridiculous lists an arm long of dlcs for their games.
Which is mad as not too long ago they were the darlings of the niche genre strategy/sim game. I remember when a large part was bought by outside investors and people saying it was the end. And so it seems, we've seen enhsittification cycle yet again.
@@Benjamin.Jamin. "Not long" has unfortunately had a way of being ten years or so by now. To an entire generation of gamers this is all they have ever been.
Paradox has been on a long downward spiral. I moved from Total War in ~2010 to Paradox games for EU3 and was very happy there for a while, then a few years ago moved to Slitherine games for Shadow Empire, Distant Worlds 2 and more. Slitherine so far has been consistent, even though their games are always somewhat flawed they're unique in filling strategy niches in a relatively approachable way while still being very deep. Paradox was hitting the depth/complexity sweet spot (max depth, min complexity) with the EU4 launch and were still good for quite a while but then just fell of a cliff, although HoI4 DLC held on longer.
I hope Paradox can turn around, but I'm beyond hope for Creative Assembly as they were already bad enough for me to stop buying their games before the substantial time I spent at Paradox, and then at Slitherine after.
I refuse to buy another Paradox product.
Please note buy doesn't mean I won't pirate it.
I miss old Paradox, the passionate people who made Victoria 2 despite leadership thinking it wouldn't be profitable (it was very profitable) and leadership agreeing to take that chance. kinda went down when they became DLC crazy and really went down after their IPO.
Good for hooded horse. Paradox needs competition, they're too complacent and while I didn't quite mesh well Hooded horse games I gotta admit they're very unique, very interesting. great games.
I was a massive fan of Paradox, I own all of their core titles and their DLC from CK2 to Victoria 3 but their standards are dropping and they weren't that high to begin with. Apart from Age of Wonder 4, they haven't blown me away with any of their titles for years. Even their DLCs are breaking their games and it has taken its toll. The quality drop from what I can tell has been going on since they went public in 2016.
I'm terrified of what they're doing to Foundry. I've been waiting forever for the game, and it was essentially done in 2022, but PDX has had them make changes, and I'm scared of what those changes will be.
The amount of game Hooded Horse has coming out soon (TM), is astounding and I've been following half a dozen of them. They are really taking their time, assumingly, to get things right.
Mariina Hallikainen:
"we will not release new paid content for city skylines 2 before the outstanding performance issues are fixed", CO word of the week #2, 6/11/23 🤔🤑
Why is she still in charge?
On the topic of Hooded Horse... I am very much looking forwards to a game that Hooded Horse is publishing called "Falling Frontier".
If you pursue quantity, quality could suffer. If you pursue quality, quantity is always an opportunity. Smaller companies are choosing quality. Larger companies are choosing quantity.
Im so glad I never pursued a career in game development. I knew it would inevitably get wallstreet attention again and they would turn it into this while trying to maximize profits.
They've kinda turned into EA for City and Strategy games
I've been playing strategy games since Civ first came out. Tried Paradox games and quickly found that they lean heavily into DLC to round out games. So having been burnt by them I'm so pleased to see Hooded Horse breaking through with well developed games. I own a few from their portfolio and the experience is so much better. Simply put, I'm not worried about buying their games.
PS. Background music sounds like Terra Nil. Another great little game to destress
Not even sure I would want Paradox to survive. Would probably be better places that these studios could go.
Going public does strange things to companies.
terrible* things
I bought Star Trek Infinite on sale with the assumption that it was a paradox game and they would release constant updates and DLC for years so it would get better. Now that they just gave me the finger guess who's games I'll no longer be buying until LOOOOONG after they have been on the market and getting updates. Good luck Paradox. This is a new death spiral loop you have set yourself into, not the gamers.
"Pardox" on the thumbnail
They have completely fumbled the bag on Crusader kings 3 on console no communication game still broken months later why release on console if you weren't gonna support the game
Because they got your money and there's nothing you can do to change it.
Never ever buy a Paradox game on console - they don't care about console gamers.
Ive been really enjoying Hooded Horse stuff lately. They have been hitting a lot where PDX has been tripping over itself.
As someone who has been playing civ for 8 years, I think you hit the nail on the head with that point. 4x games these days are very complex and take a long time to learn, so if I already have 800 hours in civ 6 and own all the DLC, I'm not going to switch to something else unless it really seems polished and does things that civ doesn't. The only one of these "civ imitators" that I've actually bought and played is Old World, because, while it doesn't have everything that civ 6 has, it does bring interesting mechanics to the table that civ doesn't (families, court politics, events, having a more narrow era focus) and feels like a well-made product, rather than just a civ clone that some studio rushed out to try to make a quick buck.
PDX right now has basically three games Hearts of Iron 4, Europa Universalis 4 and Crusader Kings 3, most of recent games have been misses like Cities Skylines 2, Vicky 3. Lets hope new EU5 will be good...
They have Stellaris as well.
are we sure the "project ceasar" is EU5? i also think it is but there is confirmation i missed?
@@niaraa8378 EU4 is oldest of their main games and Tinto already worked on 5 EU4 DLCs since 2021. Either this or Johan wants to make IR 2 and make every EU player mad.
@@Vince-tt1uj i agree, for me it's EU5, but they trolled the Victoria gamer a long time too lol. i dont know why they dont reveal it already each content creator i follow on YT already sowed maps and stuff. i think they are extra cautious they know they had a lot of L
Hooded Horse hadn't missed yet for my type of game. Terra Invicta and Manor Lords in particular.
Against the Storm on that list too... They seem to have a knack for spotting and supporting real gems.
@The_Beard Them too. I haven't played it. Xenonauts is good too
@@FasterthanLight11 Yes! I have not played the early access release but the demo was excellent and that was a while ago. As per usual I have way too much yet to play - I think the point has been proven. Hooded Horse are one to watch.
Hooded Horse and the revived Microprose
Nintendo’s “seal of approval” is not the greatest example of quality in the slightest.
Some other studio's that comes up with a new Grand Strategy gamingmodel that works and Paradox can slowly start packing their bags.
A lack of choice is keeping their lights running, at this point.
Don’t forget Hooded Horse has Falling Frontier which will scratch that space niche too
All this "suit - run" companies are now quicker and quicker going under since those just care for "more money quick" and don't realise that money (as a tool) doesn't work any more these days. Those suits just join a company for their CV and when they see that it's not profitable for them to be there, they move on to the next. The quality of a product doesn't matter any more, just engagement and market share. Luckily AI will soon replace suits (since those "jobs" are easily manageable by AI) and support actual creators and craftsman that want to make good products but are hindered by suits. Since suits also earn far more money than those people actually creating a product it would boost a companies a lot by removing people that only suck out money and damage brands due to corruption and rushed release policy. Coming generations will have to return to learn productive and creative craftsmanship since all the money handling and "just talking" jobs will get replaced by much more efficient AI's. I just hope this transition will happen soon enough so i can see those useless subjects of society whine and craftsmanship return to a new golden age.
I've been playing Paradox games for more than a decade because I used to love their focus on niche, complicated games.
I haven't bought any of their new releases, not even Crusader Kings 3.
They've tried to broaden their public by dumbing down and in general sloppier work.
I'm perfectly content keeping playing me old games sadly enough.
I think it's more of case of the super nerdy staff leaving for various reasons
You saying Paradox's label means "Danger: Minefield" is something it's already meant to me for years. As good as their games may be, I steer clear of them for the most part because I don't want to be DLC'd to death for minor upgrades and additions to their games. They've already taught me that my time, attention, and most importantly to them, my money is better spent elsewhere because of their habits.
"I steer clear of them for the most part because I don't want to be DLC'd to death ..."
Same here, I'm done with them.
Every gamer who got into Paradox games pre-2010ish "They're that company that makes niche wargames that no-one else makes, and patches them for years after release."
Every gamer who heard about Paradox in the past ten years: "Aren't they that company with $400 of DLC on every game?"
Can't quite put my finger on what changed, it's subtle.
As someone with over 1000 hours in CK2, CK3 is also kind of a debacle. It's been saved by modders, but all the official DLC has been stuff that should have been in the base game.
I had hoped that Paradox buying White Wolf would lead to some great world of darkness games. Ah well...
CS2 is not Paradox fault tho. That lies squarely on CO. They had a 3 year extension and they completely fumbled it. Their vision was too grand and their abilities too poor.
I don't think it's fair to blame Paradox for that.
Can confirm that bags have been Fumbled.
I am playing Against the Storm, and it deserves the hype. Yeah, AA is currently my go-to.
When companies aim for the cash first and forgets about players having fun, then they should not be surprised when players are no longer there. I understand that delays might happen but this means that processes must be reviewed. Not rushed.
Paradox got successful because no-one else made games like Paradox, and they got away with a lot because of that. Now other people make "games like Paradox" better than they do. It's sad when indies turn into majors and turn out to be just like the majors before them, but it's nice to see that new indies step in to fill the void.
I truly wish Paradox still made games like Paradox used to, but I'm glad that we don't NEED them to, because other people do and we can just vote with our wallets. The niches are still being filled.
Wow surprising, a project made with love and passion is better then one made with the focus to use as little money as possible, trying to make as much money as possible.
Workers and Resources keep their game constantly updated with FREE patches, that introduce new mechanics (plumbing, waste management, nuclear power plants...) plus it's so mod friendly you can literally make your own house and car and put it in game. Hooded horse allowing them to upgrade the game for free and not forcing them to launch paid DLC's speaks volumes
For me at least, it's already a warning sign that a game is involved with paradox. I love 4x games, but I held off on buying millennium specifically because it was published by pdx.
Been excited for Manor Lords for years. Been on my Wishlist since it came out on Steam and was following the developed on, at that time Twitter, for ages. Cannot wait for this game man. I also previously automatically purchased things from Paradox but now nah. They're releasing fubar left and right
After CS2, Paradox will NEVER get another penny out of me!!
There needs to be some type of legality or restriction behind a game being marked as "Early Access" because it gets abused too much in the gaming industry.
I have been enjoying a lot of their games in past several years but their ever increasing monetization schemes are concerning for sure
We don't need 12 million new games per year - We need games cooked until done, even if that takes 12 years.
When the day before did the exact same thing everyone called it a scam
I didn't even know Star Trek Infinite was even a thing until this video. I'm not sure if that says more about me or about Paradox's marketing, however.
From my understanding, paradox was actually approached by the rights holders of Star Trek about making the game and wanting to use Stellaris engine and assets to quickly release a game. They agreed because it’s literally free money but didn’t make the game, they basically just let someone use one of their engines to make a game and published it for them since it was their engine. Now the company that owns the people who made the game is imploding and has basically dissolved the team that made the game and paradox, as the publisher, is left to tell everyone “shows over.” Even though they didn’t really have much of a say in whether or not the dev studio got vaporized to keep embracer in business.
This does not stoke confidence in the new stellaris DLC coming out soon. I will be waiting for reviews for sure, tho the last 2 were a bit half baked at launch as well but what was coming out about it was that it wasn't half baked.
Honestly the marketing for the game did not sell what made it unique from Stellaris, because it does have unique features. There is a branching story system in the game that lets you tackle what happened in canon and also what if scenarios for decisions like what would happen if the Klingons allied with the Romulans instead of the Federation. I only just found out about this now through reading reviews after hearing the game would not be getting updates :(
Overbloated teams must be HEAVILLY pruned. Too many people in the upper industry didn't earn the jobs they are in. Now the bubble is bursting for mainstream gaming companies, they have to remove those wastes and drains of resources. We're seeing it here and in business sectors completely outside of the Gaming Industry.
Thank you for talking about the ongoing paradox debacle.
Also, the pricing model on their own games is horrific. They will go down... sooner or later.
Paradox had EA on a platter, now its them on the menu