Europa Universalis IV Subscription Now Available on Steam and Microsoft Windows

[Granty]

As a trial, it's a really appropriate way to bypass the DLC mountains. However, it's still expensive for just one game and this makes it a stupid long-term spending. Though, I guess it's in line with the already overpriced DLCs.

I'm pretty sure the intention is, as you say, to allow players to try out the "complete" game, and maybe encouraging people to dip in and out when new updates/DLCs are released, as opposed to getting people to subscribe to it permanently in lieu of actually purchasing the game and all its DLC.

You might get a month's subscription to decide whether you want to actually fork out the cash to buy it when a sale comes around, or you might be an intermittent player who only really comes back to try out new content and doesn't play much, or even at all, in between updates. In that regards it allows people to enjoy the game and all of its content without having to make a major investmen, which seems pretty good actually. It's still not really of any interest to me, but I don't doubt there are plenty of potential customers for this out there.

There probably will be some who do subscribe long term, but I don't think Paradox is responsible for those who decide to make obviously poor decisions in terms of immediate versus long-term costs.

 

[Sete]

When you sort out Iberia.
If you lack the willingness to actual fix the game, what's the point of subscribing?

I dont know what's your future plan for the game.
Subscribing in good faith? Not after Golden Century.

 

[Kazanov]

You don’t want to buy cosmetic DLC, and yet you are paying for a subscription service for which part of the price is a cost to accesses those self same DLC? This seems inconsistent to me, and I would rather control what I’m paying for and when myself. Like I say, that part of optional I don’t have a problem with.

Just because something is only offered as an option, doesn’t mean that it cannot still have an effect on the people who don’t take that option. I think it’s worth keeping this in mind, since a lot of the disclaimers around the subscription service centre around the assumption that people who buy the game won’t be affected (implication not affected at all). I don’t think it is so easy to know that simply because the alternate purchase option is still there. Ultimately though, those kinds of impacts and shifts in focus are very hard to measure.

Changes will be made anyways, im from an older generation of gamers and i have experienced or "forced" to experience what the younger generation of gamers like in their videogames, " lootboxes", "custom skins", "an extreme casualization of games", "forced censorship in videogames made in democratic countries" and "catch-up mechanisms". The subscription model is a a sort of catch up mechanism for those that could not buy all the DLCs of a game...in the case of EU4 and CK2 that is a big investment for students and people from third world countries (in Chile getting all the DLCs for CK2 is the equivalent of 1/2 - 1/3 of the full income of a student or an unqualified worker).

The subscription is a nice adition for those, im mainly a CK2 player (until recently) so the Subscription is a nice way to play the full experience of EU4...i maybe will never buy all the DLC as its not one of my "main games" but i host a MP game i play with friends one or two times a week and its nice that people who only have the base game (because i gifted it to them) can experience the full game too because im subbed.

I think they have to lower the cost for Europeans, they pay way too much for games in general.

That money you spent is equal to 8 expansion DLCs at a discounted price. But now you own nothing.

Not in the Third world, i know that the Sub for Europeans is way too expensive and pointless because of it.

 

[TheChrisD]

Roll this subscription into Xbox Game Pass PC, then we'll talk.

 

[Cassilda]

I guess I'm placing myself in the group that supports the subscription model, because people that wouldn't otherwise try the game due to its high full price. But of course if buying stays an option, because as I'm a regular player of most Paradox titles, in the end I'm spending way less buying the DLCs than with a recurring subscription.

 

[Sbuiko]

So having access to some possible future dlc is worth about a third or a quarter of a netflix subscription? Maybe to you it is. But not to me.

 

[davidvp]

I love this, but please consider prices according to region, here in Colombia, COP is a weak currency, so the cost of this is higher here than on other places. Don't even think about other Latin nations. There is a huge market here, you guys just need to adjust this price and ADD NATIONAL IDEAS FOR LATIN NATIONS.

 

[Kratzkatze]

When you already have all DLC you want, why subscribe? Obviously there is no guarantee how much new stuff will come.

 

[NeoT]

I've always wanted this method for paradox games. Now I don't have as much time as I used to, so I love the idea of being able to subscribe for a month and then stop the subscription until the next moment I have time.

Thank you Paradox! I hope you extend this service for other games as Imperator, CK3 and Stellaris.

 

[rubinowitz]

So having access to some possible future dlc is worth about a third or a quarter of a netflix subscription? Maybe to you it is. But not to me.

Well for people like me it's great. Subscribe for 1-2 Months while actively playing and then stop when you are waiting for new content. That's cheaper than paying 15€+ for the new dlc that I only play for that timeframe. For people who play the game for more than that buying is probably still the better option. Also solves one of the biggest problems for me personally as buying back in after missing multiple dlcs usually stops me from getting back into the game.

 

[heyhellowhatsup]

I think the people paradox lost their damn mind. April 1st is April fools day. You did this too early

 

[Valikdu]

It seems like an okay idea, since the mountain of DLC would cost as much as a video card (non-scalped). But you'd expect a subscription like this to enable access to more than one game; like, to CKII too

 

[johnyoga]

A subscription service for an old, worn out game...

 

[RedGolpe]

Well for people like me it's great. Subscribe for 1-2 Months while actively playing and then stop when you are waiting for new content. That's cheaper than paying 15€+ for the new dlc that I only play for that timeframe. For people who play the game for more than that buying is probably still the better option. Also solves one of the biggest problems for me personally as buying back in after missing multiple dlcs usually stops me from getting back into the game.

Exactly this. Subscribe, play for one month, cancel. I play a lot of games but always go back to Paradox, even after years, and this is a very good way to enjoy all dlcs for a very small price.

 

[csuperman7]

I think this is a great option, but I own nearly everything for EUIV. Would love to know if this is coming to CKIII, it might help me to consider buying it because I'd rather do this model than buying everything individually.

 

[csuperman7]

A "everything paradox" subscription would be interessting (yeah only pd made stuff, not published. i am not greedy )

Agreed! I'd love to see something along the lines of an EA Play Pro subscription for Paradox. EA charges $10/month or $100/year for their Pro service. I'd pay something similar for a Paradox one (more if I didn't own almost everything already).

 

[Anguille]

What happens with saved games if i stop the subscription. Will some of the files remain? Let's say i play 2 months and would like to play it again a year later, will i be able to continue my campaign?

Thanks

 

[smythw]

Seems horrendously overpriced for what it is.

£3.99 for access to one game, or
£7.99 for access to 100+ games from Microsoft, as an example

Should be offering either the entire catalogue, or a good proportion of it for that kind of price, if you want to be competitive with other publishers.

 

[master_kong]

I'm pretty sure the intention is, as you say, to allow players to try out the "complete" game, and maybe encouraging people to dip in and out when new updates/DLCs are released, as opposed to getting people to subscribe to it permanently in lieu of actually purchasing the game and all its DLC.

You might get a month's subscription to decide whether you want to actually fork out the cash to buy it when a sale comes around, or you might be an intermittent player who only really comes back to try out new content and doesn't play much, or even at all, in between updates. In that regards it allows people to enjoy the game and all of its content without having to make a major investmen, which seems pretty good actually. It's still not really of any interest to me, but I don't doubt there are plenty of potential customers for this out there.

There probably will be some who do subscribe long term, but I don't think Paradox is responsible for those who decide to make obviously poor decisions in terms of immediate versus long-term costs.

The ideal usage would be that for sure but is it the intent of Pdx I'm not really sure. If the monthly subscription wouldn't renew itself automatically then I would be more optimistic about it.

Not in the Third world, i know that the Sub for Europeans is way too expensive and pointless because of it.

I'm not from Europe nor the US, but Pdx pricing is localized anyway. Pdx games are expensive for all people regarding if they are from Europe or not because of the enormous amount of DLCs, stingy discounts for those DLCs and lack of reasonable bundles to let you buy the complete experience. Your money, your choice. I didn't mean any disrespect, it's just subscribing is a really low value in the long-term.

 

[Emoneh]

I already have all the DLCs so I'm clearly not the intended audience for this, but it looks quite steeply priced to me. The price per year will be much higher than that for people buying the latest DLC at full price, and going in fresh it wouldn't take long to be more expensive than picking a few important DLCs up in a sale.

I wonder if a 'rent-to-own' model might be more attractive - i.e. this subscription but every month or two another DLC is permanently unlocked for you. It gives a much greater reason to keep paying, even if you're not playing much that month. People would no longer have a reason to subscribe after unlocking everything, but I doubt many people will subscribe to this for years & years anyway (unless Paradox is going for the planet fitness business model!)