About Leviathan

[Johan]

Leviathan was one of the worst releases we have had, and follows a long trail of low quality releases starting back with Golden Century for EU4.

As the Studio Manager and Game Director, at the end of the day, this is my responsibility, so I have to apologize for this. This is entirely my fault.

I should have delayed the start of the development of Leviathan until we had all the resources that were needed, and they had time to properly onboard on the project. We should have announced a break in the development of EU4 after the Emperor release, until we had a team ready to start designing and working early in 2021.

We are partially changing our plans for the rest of the year. We had originally planned to fix all legacy bugs before we stop developing further expansions for EU4. Now we are accelerating these plans, and also making sure that the community will be getting them frequently.

The 1.31.3 patch is planned to be out this week, and the next patch after that we aim to release either at the end of may or early june, and then we aim to release several more patches for the rest of the year.

This is of course a rough first expansion for the team and the studio, but it's far from the end. We have recruited a set of great individuals, with a huge passion for the game, to form Paradox Tinto, giving us a bright future for Europa Universalis.

 

[KRBLACK]

Regrettable, but understandable.

Best of luck to the team!

 

[Hazes4ever]

Hi Johan, I appreciate you owning up to the mistake. Everybody makes mistakes and the only way to solve them is to own up to to them. Especially with all the flak you guys are getting.

Glad to see you are working to resolve and don't just dispose of the product *cough Anthem cough*

Best of luck to you and the team!

 

[DarkStarBuster]

Hi Johan, thank you for updating us with the plans that you and the team are making for EU4.

I have only one question; you mention the plan to fix all legacy bugs before stopping development on EU4 expansions, but then mention the bright future for EU4 with the Tinto team. While these aren't mutually exclusive, they confused me a bit. My reading of the intent is to say that there is unlikely to be further expansions this year, instead focussing on the legacy bugs, but after those are considered to be "in hand" there might be the chance for the team, now full of bug fixing experience and EU4 experience in general, to take a crack at an expansion? Am I reading too much into it, or is this the kind of long term idea you might have in mind.

Thank you for your time,
A EU4 fan.

 

[Obeliskkai]

And the end is in sight for Europa Universalis 4.

This is what we needed to hear Johan. Thankyou for taking the time to express these sentiments and explaining what went wrong. Understanding what the problem was is the key to fixing it.

I have no doubt that when you are finished, EU4 will be in top shape, ready to entertain us for years as we wait for EU5.

 

[BarryOSeven]

"We had originally planned to fix all legacy bugs before we stop developing further expansions for EU4". So we don't get any new DLC anymore?

 

[ItThatAltersSanity]

I do wonder if the community should elect 'diplomats' to translate ordinary feedback into diplomatic rhetoric. That was the historic way (see EU4 itself) of solving the communications/culture barrier: send trusted individuals to mediate as not everyone has the skills to share information without harming relations. If you do go ahead with this, I really do mean 'diplomats' from both sides - i.e. there'd be some 'diplomats' who aren't paid by the company, do not have access to company insider information, who simply are there to translate the emotions and information of the player community into civilised rhetoric.

I'd understand if this was rejected on account of 'free labour is illegal' but it is a thought. There are a lot of players who are highly invested emotionally in the wellbeing of the game, who are ignorant of the realities of commercial software development and who have enough literacy to vent their feelings in the public. Not having a strategy for this reality feels suboptimal.

 

[Lichoniespi]

"We had originally planned to fix all legacy bugs before we stop developing further expansions for EU4". So we don't get any new DLC anymore?

Feels like a typo, i belive that he meant "start"

 

[LSF]

That is what most of us wanted to hear. Maybe the unrest would not have been so big if this post had been made some days ago.

Anyway good luck for you all guys (and girls). We know you are capable of great work.

 

[wobarch]

what does this mean? Iam not sure - I really hope that this does not mean the end of DLCs/ Content Patches for EU4.
The concern of the majority of reviews (mine included with 1k+ likes on steam) was not to end the DLCs, it was about the state of the DLC at the release (bugwhise).
We want future content for EU4 - there is way more potential. Maybe I just understand the plan wrong?

 

[petertju]

Best of luck to you and your team, I can only imagine that this must have been a hellish few weeks especially for all the newer guys on the team.

 

[MaXimillion]

We should have announced a break in the development of EU4 after the Emperor release, until we had a team ready to start designing and working early in 2021.

You should have announced a break in the development of new content, not a complete break in development. There were plenty of bugs remaining from Emperor release that needed patching.

 

[SPAMbuca]

Very big of you to own the mistakes. It's good to see that longstanding issues are being worked on now and that the new patch is receiving it's due diligence.
I hope you won't be held responsible by the company.


@Johan how do you feel on developing more content for EU4 after most bugs have been fixed? Do you think the code makes it possible to keep adding new mechanics to the game or would it be easier to move on to EU5 with a sort of fresh slate? I imagine the code could be difficult to work with at this point.

 

[Romanix90]

Now this is an apology and very apreciated @Johan. As a new player here certainly i would like more expansions with high quality however i do understand that game at some time needs to end. Keep up good work with future patches and DLCs.

 

[johnty5]

Thanks Johan. This is all really great to hear. Looking forward to more EU.

We had originally planned to fix all legacy bugs before we stop developing further expansions for EU4.

I'm not quite sure I understand this. Is the "stop" meant to read "start"? i.e. "We had originally planned to fix all legacy bugs before we start developing further expansions for EU4."?

Or is it meant to allude to an end to EU4 expansions full stop which - given the mention of an expanded team - would suggest EU5 soonish?

This is of course a rough first expansion for the team and the studio, but it's far from the end. We have recruited a set of great individuals, with a huge passion for the game, to form Paradox Tinto, giving us a bright future for Europa Universalis.

"Bright future for Europa Universalis", not "Bright future for Europa Universalis IV". Wonder if this means we might be hearing about EU5 in the not too distant future.

EDIT:
Johan's subsequent posts have clarified what he meant. Seems that legacy bug fixes were originally going to be done once EU4 expansions were over, but are now being brought forward and will be done immediately.

 

[Zuru84]

I rly appreciate this post.
Good luck for you guys!

 

[Mr Schnabel]

I have the feeling that the engine and the code are at the end. If you fix one bug, 5 new ones open up. For 5 years you can't get back to the main menu without restarting. The game is from 2013, so 8 years old. Isn't it better to do the most necessary bug fixes and then work on a decent successor instead of riding a dead horse for years?

 

[Metz]

Can colonial nations one day be altered so they no longer expand outside of their respective colonial regions? It is a bit strange to see the Caribbean CN eat its way up the Louisiana colonial region and then end up landlocked by an expanding Mexico CN. A solution would be for a new CN to be created if a CN expands out of its respective colonial region. Maybe have colonial regions create after 3 provinces or be dynamic based on states?

 

[MachopPower69]

Leviathan was one of the worst releases we have had, and follows a long trail of low quality releases starting back with Golden Century for EU4.

As the Studio Manager and Game Director, at the end of the day, this is my responsibility, so I have to apologize for this. This is entirely my fault.

I should have delayed the start of the development of Leviathan until we had all the resources that were needed, and they had time to properly onboard on the project. We should have announced a break in the development of EU4 after the Emperor release, until we had a team ready to start designing and working early in 2021.

We are partially changing our plans for the rest of the year. We had originally planned to fix all legacy bugs before we stop developing further expansions for EU4. Now we are accelerating these plans, and also making sure that the community will be getting them frequently.

The 1.31.3 patch is planned to be out this week, and the next patch after that we aim to release either at the end of may or early june, and then we aim to release several more patches for the rest of the year.

This is of course a rough first expansion for the team and the studio, but it's far from the end. We have recruited a set of great individuals, with a huge passion for the game, to form Paradox Tinto, giving us a bright future for Europa Universalis.

Sure it is a bad update and there was a lot of mistakes made, but in my opinion it wasn't that bad. I haven't got the DLC, which I believe is the major bulk of the bugs, but it was great ideas mixed with rushed work. Reminds me of the decline of quality in Pokemon games.

Have a break, rest your mind a bit. Making mistakes and discovering bugs is a part of your job and a part of being human.

 

[Obeliskkai]

Feels like a typo, i belive that he meant "start"

I don't think that it is. Mr.Schnabel above is right, it feels like EU4 has been pushed as far as it can be. I think that, like CK2 at the end, if we were to look inside it would probably resemble a spaghetti like mismatch of quick fixes and band aids.

Maybe if Leviathan hadn't launched as it had they could have seen a path to further development, but Leviathan may have led to the conclusion that continuing to sink resources into EU4 is too dangerous as each update just breaks too much of what came before.

A fresh start must look incredibly attractive right about now.