Could HoI:IV become PDS's most successful game to date?

[Cinigs]

Dude I used the Steamspy thing to look up HOI4 and apparently there are 1300 owners of it already...Have a look yourself http://steamspy.com/app/394360

Probably people in the beta.

 

[Sanny]

When was the last time we had a good WWII shooter for instance?

Red Orchestra 2 (2011) then Rising Storm (2013)

 

[Sanny]

those numbers also don't take into consideration that HOI3 and V2 were predominantly sold via other means than Steam. At least that's the impression I've had from answering tech support questions.

Would Paradox have a record of all the sales from different distributors for each title?

 

[Had a dad]

Would Paradox have a record of all the sales from different distributors for each title?

I'm sure they do, however they've never released things like that afaik

 

[Had a dad]

Probably people in the beta.

1300 people in the beta? wow that would be a huge beta...

 

[aruon]

1300 people in the beta? wow that would be a huge beta...

well more people do make for more bugs found, more logic breaking scenarios, more absurd wackiness... so more bugs found

 

[Dromido]

well more people do make for more bugs found, more logic breaking scenarios, more absurd wackiness... so more bugs found

Still 1300 is a bit too big, thought they were aiming for something around 100

 

[aitaituo]

A WW2-theme is NOT a good reason for people to buy games. Think back: when hoi3 was released, there where many games with a ww2-story - it was fashionably. But at the moment, the popular themes are mostly space and sandbox. Thus, a game that is limited via its ww2 background like hoi4 may not be as popular as e.g. the new stellaris brand. Compared to hoi4, eu4 shows the potential for 'history building'. You have much more time to actually conquer the world, if you want, and you also have many ways to do so. If you try the same in hoi4, it will cause you quite a headache. The reason for this is, that its harder to break out of the historic setting, i assume (as i also haven't played it yet).
Nonetheless, there will be people who will buy the game - but it wont be more then e.g. ck2 and eu4. ww2 is a niche - genre at the moment and i dont think it will change fast enought to produce a huge change in sells like the time before ck2 compared to ck2.

This is the biggest hurdle for HOI, I think. The market, especially in the US, was really oversaturated with WW2 games, movies, and documentaries for about 10 years and most people lost interest in the period as a result.

OTOH, there hasn't been a decent WW2 strategy game in a long time and Paradox has become a fairly well known company now, so HOIIV might draw in people who otherwise wouldn't buy a WW2 game or thought other Paradox titles looked good but weren't interested in the time periods.

 

[Sanny]

This is the biggest hurdle for HOI, I think. The market, especially in the US, was really oversaturated with WW2 games, movies, and documentaries for about 10 years and most people lost interest in the period as a result.

OTOH, there hasn't been a decent WW2 strategy game in a long time and Paradox has become a fairly well known company now, so HOIIV might draw in people who otherwise wouldn't buy a WW2 game or thought other Paradox titles looked good but weren't interested in the time periods.

Well I was talking to some of my friends who previously had no interest whatsoever in Paradox's Grand Strategy and as soon as I mentioned "WW2" I caught their attention. There's something uniquely appealing about WW2 and combining the concept of Grand Strategy. Probably the fact that it has been rarely done by game developers.

 

[Snaggleooo]

I seem to recall one of the devs saying that Hearts of Iron was considerably more successful than their other games (though don't quote me on that), although that may not compare so closely to their recent generation of games in CK2 and EU4. I think HoI4 will be big though. Despite games having gone away from the era in the last 5 years or so, the oversaturation and subsequent fatigue of that period has dissipated and (judging by people actually pushing for a World at War 2 for the last Call of Duty) people are keen on World War II again. I also think about book shops, where books on the World Wars would outnumber those of the EU and CK periods at least 10:1.

 

[semaphore]

As others have noted, HOI has historically been Paradox's best selling series. Of course, Paradox's most recent releases (CK2 & EU4) have dwarfed their previous successes, but that seems to be the result of digital distribution. It seems logical to tentatively expect that HoI4 will benefit form the same effect and maintain the historical popularity of its lineage.

 

[Tasmosunt]

Chariots of War will never be supplanted!

 

[Shavanna]

Well I was talking to some of my friends who previously had no interest whatsoever in Paradox's Grand Strategy and as soon as I mentioned "WW2" I caught their attention. There's something uniquely appealing about WW2 and combining the concept of Grand Strategy. Probably the fact that it has been rarely done by game developers.

I've startet my 'paradox career' with eu3 and avoided the hoi - games almost completely till some month ago 'cause of the ww2 setting. as aitaituo mentioned, there was simply to much ww in the games and i prefer the older centuries over the new wars. One reason may be that it was near (timely) to our lives now. I'm german and my grandparents suffered from the war so maybe thats another reason why i dont like that setting. There will surely be others with a similar mindset as there where so many people who died, where harmed or suffered otherwise, regardless of nationality.
For me, it's not a reason not to buy the game but to be carefull with the topic ww2. Many games that used that theme where shooters. Hoi4 will be not as close as the shooters to the theme 'cause of the genre that by itself produces a bigger distance to the topic than other ones.
Maybe its only the contemporary mindset of many germans but we are carefull with (newer) wars, 'cause we learned out lessons from the world wars.

 

[uther4117]

BICE already outclassed the HOI4

 

[Denkt]

You can not make such statement yet, because HOI4 have not been released.

 

[Shavanna]

BICE already outclassed the HOI4

Let me correct you: BICE already outclassed HoI3.

 

[Sanny]

I've got a feeling that Hearts of Iron III's total sales probably hit the 1 million mark.

 

[sfmess]

They're gonna have to do a lot more advertising and press for that to happen, but we can expect that all to ramp up as we get closer to release.

...which is why I'm pretty certain we're not getting a Q1 release unless something changes dramatically very soon.

 

[panzerzombie]

@Uther Well then wait for HOI4 BICE..^^

 

[AlfredMV]

Yes