Can we take a moment to appreciate Paradox Interactive?

[FiddleSticks96]

In the wake of BlizzCon and the seemingly intentional tone-deafness that has followed I find myself re-examining the companies that I frequently purchase games from and I realized how few of these companies still seem to be trustworthy enough to not completely screw over their core audience. I gladly count Paradox Interactive among those trusted few.

Stellaris was my first Paradox Interactive game and it is what has turned me into one of their return customers. I have since expanded into HOI4 and Tyranny and plan on getting their new Battletech game when I have the time and money. Their policy on DLC is preferable to the microtransactions, loot boxes, and aggressive monetization found in so many other "Triple A" games and more importantly, they actually communicate and listen to their customers. This company in general, and the Stellaris team in particular, have earned my loyalty and I know that I'm not the only one who feels this way.

With all that said, I'd like to take a moment to just tell any Paradox employees who might be reading this that we appreciate you. Thank you for being awesome!

 

[mergele]

Aye to that.

 

[TartanNinja]

What happened at BlizzCon?

 

[Kapitalisti]

What happened at BlizzCon?

Blizzard announced the next Diablo is a mobile game and everyone went berserk.

 

[Lasagna Star Empire]

I agree. The Stellaris devs have implemented a lot of the community suggestions!

 

[FiddleSticks96]

Blizzard announced the next Diablo is a mobile game and everyone went berserk.

They're also mass deleting negative posts on the Blizzard forums and on their youtube videos, which only made everyone angrier. It's a terrible PR move no matter how you spin it. Since the game is ultimately an Activision one you can bet it will be aggressively monetized and filled with grindy mechanics and microtransactions.

I agree. The Stellaris devs have implemented a lot of the community suggestions!

It's not just about implementing community suggestions. Paradox actually listens to the community and interacts with us regularly and I don't see them completely alienating their core audience to make a quick buck anytime soon. I just wish more companies would take Paradox as an example on how to build and maintain a community.

 

[krios41]

What happened at BlizzCon?

 

[FiddleSticks96]

Imagine for a moment that it is 5 years from now and Paradox has been hinting for about a year that something big is going to be happening in the Stellaris series, something that is probably a new game, something like Stellaris 2. Now imagine that the day of the official announcement has come and Wiz is like "Stellaris 2 is going to be a mobile only game with watered down gameplay, bare bones story, full of grindy mechanics and microtransactions, and is all made from reskinned assets of a crappy Stellaris clone. We outsourced it to another company and we are very excited about this and you should be to!" This forum would erupt with rage immediately. This is what Blizzard did and something I can't imagine Paradox doing, which is why I think we should all be appreciative of them right now.

 

[the glory of plain]

dharma holy fury and megacorp shows how much paradox improved recently
while market overflow with awful sandbox

 

[magriboy0750]

Good evening,i totally agree with you.I would add also Paradox is the only video game company with Valve to make in-house Linux version of our games.I really appreciate this.Thanks Paradox.

 

[I_am_Nemo]

Agreed. I think part of the difference is that with Pdox, much of the decision making (still?) rests in the hands of people who play and enjoy the type of games they're making. Obviously, they need to make a profit for the shareholders, but they're trying to make a profit by making the kind of games they want to play. Blizz seems to have lost some of that; decisions feel like they're being made at a sufficient distance from their core audience that there's not much consideration of "if I were a current WoW/Diablo/etc. player, would this be something I'd appreciate?"

 

[Studoku]

I've had issues with Paradox in the past (got myself a little badge for it under my name) but honestly, they're awesome. Thanks for all the Stellaris. Even if I'm not playing it because I'm hyped about 2.2.

 

[Uncle Lando]

Agreed, Paradox feels like one of the few companies that still does proper expansion packs instead of dumping microtransactions on their players.

 

[FiddleSticks96]

Good evening,i totally agree with you.I would add also Paradox is the only video game company with Valve to make in-house Linux version of our games.I really appreciate this.Thanks Paradox.

I didn't know they supported Linux. Usually Linux has to support Linux. That's impressive.

Agreed. I think part of the difference is that with Pdox, much of the decision making (still?) rests in the hands of people who play and enjoy the type of games they're making. Obviously, they need to make a profit for the shareholders, but they're trying to make a profit by making the kind of games they want to play. Blizz seems to have lost some of that; decisions feel like they're being made at a sufficient distance from their core audience that there's not much consideration of "if I were a
current WoW/Diablo/etc. player, would this be something I'd appreciate?"

The problem is that the business model revolving around aggressive, predatory, and addictive gambling/lootboxes and microtransactions is unsustainable. It will make a mint in the short term but it is bad for long term growth. These small percentage of people who make these games most of their money won't be around as personal cash cows forever. Something somewhere will give eventually and it's starting to look like the EU will trigger a domino effect if Belgium's gaming commission has any say in it. Eventually, these companies will have to return to their core audience, but that audience will be a shadow of its former size due to all the abuse. Once that happens, these companies will have major problems that can't be solved by plugging their ears. This is what happens when those in power put short term profit before long term growth/health.

Agreed, Paradox feels like one of the few companies that still does proper expansion packs instead of dumping microtransactions on their players.

I wasn't sure how I felt about Paradox's frequent DLCs at first, but the quality and constant care of both the free updates and paid for expansions of Stellaris has convinced me that it is more reminiscent of expansion packs in games of old. Anything that reminds me of Age of Empires 2 must be doing something right.

 

[henzington]

Paradox hasn’t been perfect as their lack of communication around price changes based on currency is evidence but compared to many other developers they are much better about taking feedback from the community. Personally I refuse to buy any game with micro transactions as it always end up with horrible grindy mechanics

 

[el freako]

Have been a happy purchaser of Paradox grand strategy games since I was hyped at Europa Universalis coming out (check my joined date ).
The games were usually not as well polished when they came out but bloody hell did they patch and amend the hell out of them, for years on end.

This has been why Paradox will always get my money first

 

[KingAlamar]

Agreed, Paradox feels like one of the few companies that still does proper expansion packs instead of dumping microtransactions on their players.

I agree. I think they keep their games alive for a long time [thus insuring value to the customer] and by-and-large they do try to make decisions that they believe will make for a better game.

The only big thing I'd change though is their DLC policy. It really creates a big barrier for a new customer wanting to jump into their games. For example if I wanted to get into EU4 and checked [now] how much a 5 year old game + DLC costs it'd run you 390$ on Steam. Ridiculous for a game released 5 years ago.

It would be nice to have a "newcomer" bundle for 50-65$ that would have the base game and the "important expansions". Maybe a different "newcomer bundle" with the core game and all DLC more than 2 years old for a similar price??

Then again ... 390$ of upfront costs beats is STILL BETTER than pay-to-win, pay-to-advance, microtransaction garbage. Plus find a good sale and 390$ may become 115$ or so. Not low enough for me but maybe that would work for others??

 

[misiceman]

The problem witht he 390 is that a good chunk of that is cosmetic. I think its around 180$ right now not on sale. Still insanely high and they should do something IMO, but its not the 390...

 

[TGK72]

Absolutely! I have to say my first true entry into the Paradox experience was Stellaris, (Not counting published titles such as SOTS 1-2, etc) and since falling in absolute love with the game, ive been slowly catching up on my pure paradox titles and after the past 3 years they have grown to be one of my most favorite publishers and developers of all time!

Honestly I actually came in here with a bad taste in my mouth for Paradox for them totally abandoning SotS2, leaving it a buggy incomplete mess in such an unsatisfying manner and after doing some reading up on their sometimes insane DLC policies. But i've forgiven them for their past sins 3x over since they gave me a better Space 4x/GS title instead and significantly improved how they handle their dlcs now. They've now converted me into a die-hard fan and ill be enjoying anything this good company provides for years more to come!

 

[FleetingRain]

I've had issues with Paradox in the past (got myself a little badge for it under my name) but honestly, they're awesome. Thanks for all the Stellaris. Even if I'm not playing it because I'm hyped about 2.2.

Yeah, I'd rather be on probation in here than get a mobile game in my favorite franchise.