Europa Universalis IV Subscription Now Available on Steam and Microsoft Windows

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Niche's are really vulnerable for a game with backlash, since they need to appeal to a larger percentage of their audience. GTA 5 is more insulated against fan backlash than EU4, but GTA 5 was the first example of steam hiding a spike in negative reviews.

Easiest way to visualize this is how someone buys a new game on steam. If you go to a store page, and you see the reviews are Mixed, it will give you pause to at least go scrolling through the reviews to see why. Now bear in mind, there's a percentage of people that won't even do that, and will skip a game entirely if its Mixed on steam reviews.

Same applies for review scores, people will skip a game with a 7 or less.

Also paradox game's aren't small anymore. EU4 and the others are some of the most popular strategy games on steam.

What you said about negative reviews is definitely true, but thankfully the base game is well received on steam, it is only the DLCs that see backlash. As a new buyer you first get the base game to see if you like it, and if you really enjoy it, you might look into DLCs later. At least in my case, when I was a new player, I loved the base game, and I didn't know anything about dlcs. After a few campaigns, I decided I want to look into some of the DLCs. I searched on reddit for recommendations and everyone was saying to get Art of War (this was a couple years ago), but when I saw it on steam, it had negative/mixed reviews.. As you can imagine, I was pretty confused, since everyone was recommending it as #1 must-have dlc. So I just went to youtube and checked the features of the DLC in action, and they seemed super useful to me, so I ignored the reviews and bought it. Fast forward to today, I own everything there is to own except cosmetic packs.

If it was just a dlc for a random game with bad reviews, yes, i wouldn't have bought it, but if you like the game - and are willing to pay - why should you care about people complaining about price?
 
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Easiest way to visualize this is how someone buys a new game on steam. If you go to a store page, and you see the reviews are Mixed, it will give you pause to at least go scrolling through the reviews to see why. Now bear in mind, there's a percentage of people that won't even do that, and will skip a game entirely if its Mixed on steam reviews.

Same applies for review scores, people will skip a game with a 7 or less.
I think the "skip a game without reading the mixed reviews" propensity may depend on what age you are. After a good long while, just about everybody figures out that there are some folks out in internet land writing reviews who are - and I'm going to put this as kindly as I can - thoughtless drooling slackwits. If the reviews are mixed I will typically read a few of the negative ones and, if they seem to be written by morons, buy the product anyway (assuming I was interested in it to begin with).
 
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I actually really dislike this...
and here is why,
I already own all the dlcs up to current for EU 4, and am NOT buying a subscription to ALL dlcs to get the newest ones.
It disrupts my gameplay when i start it up and there is a pop-up like a porno-site (or any number of other sites) telling me to buy a subscription....
it's a game not a site, it's also NOT an MMO...(which i also don't especially like playing)
at this point in EU4's lifespan how many new players are you getting... or think you're getting that warrants this.... especially the pop-up...
i am sure new players or some older ones would love to have to buy a subscription to rent dlc to a game...... when they apparently can't wait for it to go on sale on steam....
 
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I do not mind the subscription service, but I am not a big fan of having a big ad on the main menu for it, especially as a player who owns all the expansions.
 
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Does the subscription now include Leviathan?
 
A subscription service? Right now I'm considering demanding a full refund for EU IV and all the DLCs I own, on the grounds that the game is so broken that it's unplayable. The last thing I'll ever do is subscribe to anything EU IV related, after this fiasco.
 
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A subscription service? Right now I'm considering demanding a full refund for EU IV and all the DLCs I own, on the grounds that the game is so broken that it's unplayable. The last thing I'll ever do is subscribe to anything EU IV related, after this fiasco.

Steam will let you refund leviathan if you played less than 2 hours. But I don't see why they would refund you the whole game, since you can always go back to a previous version which is not broken.
 
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Steam will let you refund leviathan if you played less than 2 hours. But I don't see why they would refund you the whole game, since you can always go back to a previous version which is not broken.
That was mostly meant as a joke, albeit a not-too-funny one. Already got my refund on Leviathan a few days ago. That'll teach me to expect games to be functional upon release.
 
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That would be a no I'm afraid as the subscription isn't an owned item and since you technically don't own the DLC, it's not possible to make any such connection. At least not yet, it's possible that future iterations of the Steam subscription system changes this.
 
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That would be a no I'm afraid as the subscription isn't an owned item and since you technically don't own the DLC, it's not possible to make any such connection. At least not yet, it's possible that future iterations of the Steam subscription system changes this.
People will purchase a subscription if you give them a badge—even if they already own the entire game.
 
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What about mac users who purchase via Steam? This should be straightforward as it’s the same Mac content and similar to windows users, is just a different way of collecting money. Ie, there’s no coding challenge and you click on the same button on steam to purchase
 
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I’ve given my son my old iMac and a subscription model is a great way of having some 2 player games rather than shelling out full whack twice. I can pretend it’s a history lesson.
 
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I just want to check: if I already own every single DLC available on Steam, do I get anything else with the subscription or is it just the same stuff again?

If the subscription only provides what I already have, why does it constantly tell me that my DLC is out of date and I need to download everything again and restart my game?
 
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great option for those who doesnt have all DLC and doeasnt plan ti spend money on EU 4 :):):):) , that was joke buti have suggestion that all subscription be some kind of credit store so when you rich some point you recive some content you dont have , cheers ;)
 
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Paradox’s flagship grand strategy game will soon be available in an entirely new way. Europa Universalis IV’s expansion and additional content is now available via subscription letting you enjoy all of the expansions and add-ons that have been developed over the last eight years.

All new subscribers will gain immediate access to all additional content ever created for Europa Universalis IV, with no additional upfront cost. If you already own the base game and some of the expansions or content packs, this subscription does not remove that ownership, but will open up all content that you have not purchased.

Subscribers must already own the Europa Universalis IV base game. Subscription is handled in-game and can be accessed once you start up Europa Universalis IV. This is only available to players on Steam using Microsoft Windows.

Sign up now to enjoy:
  • All 14 major expansions, including the religious battles of Art of War and Chinese imperial drama of Mandate of Heaven.
  • Access to the upcoming Leviathan expansion, and all future expansions and content developed for Europa Universalis IV.
  • 3 immersion packs, adding new mechanics for Spain, Great Britain and Russian nations.
  • 9 content packs, adding new unit designs, advisor portraits and music for dozens of different nations.
  • and many more improvements to the core game experience.
This subscription will be available on 18 March 2021 for $4.99/£3.99/€4.99 per month. This subscription will automatically renew at the end of every month until it is cancelled.

This is an additional service on top of our existing model and we are not replacing anything - we're just adding another option!

So I got the subscription, is there anyway to turn off select DLCs with the service? Like I really dont want the poorly made ones to be used.