I think all of us would agree that the game was shipped unfinished, and that was wrong. However, I am not sure that the fault lies with Paradox.
I have been a follower of Paradox and their games since long before the initial release of EU1. For those of us in North America on this board who remember those days, there was a signficant question about whether EU1 would ever even be released in North America, or even if there were a version in English. The first versions of EU, if I remember correctly, were released in German and Swedish. Those of us who were monolingual in English could only look on with envy, as our friends in the European gaming community had access to this awesome-sounding new game.
Why, you ask, did this happen? Because Paradox at the time had no PUBLISHER for their material in either England or North America. The hot topic/complaint on these boards at that time was 'when will Paradox get their act in gear and get us an English/North American version available for sale?' Then, they found a publisher in England, and those of us here in North America were busy scheming, figuring out our dollar/pound conversion rates, and discovering how to order a copy from a distributor in the UK.
Then, suddenly, and somewhat unexpectedly, Paradox made an announcement to the board. They had secured a North American publisher -- a company named Strategy First had agreed to market and distribute their games in North America. While it seems laughable to think so now, at the time, their was great rejoicing at this announcement, and ALL were singing the praises of Strategy First.
So, what does all this history have to do with a product that is released before it is ready for market? Well, unfortunately, quite a bit. It is my recollection and understanding that Paradox, as it consisted at the time, would have been unable to bring EU to the North American market without Strategy First's (or some other North American publisher's) financial, marketing and distribution network. That would have meant an extremely limited penetration of EU1 into the North American market, and most likely, NO EU2, NO HOI, and NO Crusader Kings.
Unfortunately, the price that Paradox seemingly had to pay for this ability to have much greater distribution through using Strategy First was a corresponding loss of control in certain areas, including control over the release dates of products. It is a sad but unmistakable fact that virtually all computer game distributors are more than willing to release products in buggy, alpha/beta states in order to conform to a seasonal marketing/sales plan. We all would like this to change, but it will probably not. I am sure that the Paradox team is not particular happy about this turn of events -- in fact, you can see it in their diligent work to support each of their titles after release with further patches, willingness to listen to constructive criticism, accomodation to the need of modders, and so on. This is rare in a computer game company today. Many have pointed to the excellent work of John Tiller games as evidence of how things should be done -- that is fine, Tiller should be praised, but remember, his games are targeted towards an extremely narrow hard core niche -- not marketed to the masses through Electronics Boutique and Comp USA.
So, in conclusion, my point is, the next time you want to curse Paradox for a game released too early, gripe about how you are returning or selling your copy, complain about the AI, or rue the day Paradox became associated with Strategy First, remember -- there was a reason why all of this happened, and ironically, some of it was due to the demands of the user community in North America for a product we had heard was available in Europe called Europa Universalis a few years ago.
I have been a follower of Paradox and their games since long before the initial release of EU1. For those of us in North America on this board who remember those days, there was a signficant question about whether EU1 would ever even be released in North America, or even if there were a version in English. The first versions of EU, if I remember correctly, were released in German and Swedish. Those of us who were monolingual in English could only look on with envy, as our friends in the European gaming community had access to this awesome-sounding new game.
Why, you ask, did this happen? Because Paradox at the time had no PUBLISHER for their material in either England or North America. The hot topic/complaint on these boards at that time was 'when will Paradox get their act in gear and get us an English/North American version available for sale?' Then, they found a publisher in England, and those of us here in North America were busy scheming, figuring out our dollar/pound conversion rates, and discovering how to order a copy from a distributor in the UK.
Then, suddenly, and somewhat unexpectedly, Paradox made an announcement to the board. They had secured a North American publisher -- a company named Strategy First had agreed to market and distribute their games in North America. While it seems laughable to think so now, at the time, their was great rejoicing at this announcement, and ALL were singing the praises of Strategy First.
So, what does all this history have to do with a product that is released before it is ready for market? Well, unfortunately, quite a bit. It is my recollection and understanding that Paradox, as it consisted at the time, would have been unable to bring EU to the North American market without Strategy First's (or some other North American publisher's) financial, marketing and distribution network. That would have meant an extremely limited penetration of EU1 into the North American market, and most likely, NO EU2, NO HOI, and NO Crusader Kings.
Unfortunately, the price that Paradox seemingly had to pay for this ability to have much greater distribution through using Strategy First was a corresponding loss of control in certain areas, including control over the release dates of products. It is a sad but unmistakable fact that virtually all computer game distributors are more than willing to release products in buggy, alpha/beta states in order to conform to a seasonal marketing/sales plan. We all would like this to change, but it will probably not. I am sure that the Paradox team is not particular happy about this turn of events -- in fact, you can see it in their diligent work to support each of their titles after release with further patches, willingness to listen to constructive criticism, accomodation to the need of modders, and so on. This is rare in a computer game company today. Many have pointed to the excellent work of John Tiller games as evidence of how things should be done -- that is fine, Tiller should be praised, but remember, his games are targeted towards an extremely narrow hard core niche -- not marketed to the masses through Electronics Boutique and Comp USA.
So, in conclusion, my point is, the next time you want to curse Paradox for a game released too early, gripe about how you are returning or selling your copy, complain about the AI, or rue the day Paradox became associated with Strategy First, remember -- there was a reason why all of this happened, and ironically, some of it was due to the demands of the user community in North America for a product we had heard was available in Europe called Europa Universalis a few years ago.
