Hard to gauge how big Paradox Development are nowadays

[RedRalphWiggum]

We don't know sales so it's very hard to tell for sure how well things are going for the internal studio now, but outwardly everything would seem to be peachy keen, jelly bean. Forum activity seems to be up, CK2 and AHD seem to have been very successful, and most significantly, there are a lot more staff around nowadays. So, is the internal studio still considered a small studio? If so, what would need to happen before being generally considered a medium sized one?

 

[AndrewT]

Hard to gauge how big Paradox Development are nowadays

I hear they'll be installing a set of scales at the entrance soon.

 

[Kallocain]

When I worked on AAA-titles we were usually around 50-70 people in a project. Paradox do things a bit differently. We have 22 people working with games, and those 22 are divided into a handful of teams too. We could be considered not-tiny, but I'm not sure about mid-sized. Maybe.

 

[InnocentIII]

When will we hear news about the next project? With the quality of Vicky2 and CK2 I can't wait for the first of the 4s, whichever it is, and a new franchise would be also be fine

 

[delra]

For the core titles it's the golden era without any doubt, AHD is brilliant and begs for even more expansion, CK2 is all I always dreamed it to be (and more).

The external titles seem to be sinking one after another though (Ardania, King Arthur, Gettysburg, silly CIM add-ons)... Maybe Roses and Warlock will change that pattern, we'll see.

 

[Ekyman]

The external titles seem to be sinking one after another though (Ardania, King Arthur, Gettysburg, silly CIM add-ons)... Maybe Roses and Warlock will change that pattern, we'll see.

I think that Naval War: Arctic Circle might have already broken that pattern.

 

[Susana]

I think that Naval War: Arctic Circle might have already broken that pattern.

Naval War: Arctic Circle is doing really good considering it's a pretty niche title, even the reviews have been great. In response to @Delra you may be surprised in knowing that Cities in Motion has been a successful franschise for us, and that's kind of the point of our portfolio. Not to sign titles that suit everone but a certain segment and do it well. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes the products need more long-term support and sometimes things don't go according to plan. We're constantly working on improving ourselves. A big part of this forum still consists of gamers who are fans of our internal titles, which is why what you see here is not always an accurate representation of what people think/how many people are actually playing some of the external titles. We've got some great things coming from the internal studio and our external ones as well in the pipeline so we've all got an exciting couple of years ahead of us!

Kind regards
Susana

 

[delra]

I agree that CIM is an excellent game, but that only makes it more disappointing, because it's not progressing at all over the last year or so. Small add-ons with 5 extra buses won't replace a proper revision of the gameplay. From my uninformed fan's perspective, it feels like someone at some point (developers, publishers) made a decision to not expand the game itself any further but rather keep milking it with smaller more or less relevant add-ons. I'd rather get CiM's own "AHD" during that time than this whole flood of DLCs.

I wonder what Nitro guys are up to, they had so many great ideas in the past and put out there a couple really darn good strategy games. They deserve a good shot to redeem themselves.

 

[Johan]

I wonder what Nitro guys are up to, they had so many great ideas in the past and put out there a couple really darn good strategy games. They deserve a good shot to redeem themselves.

Sadly those games did not sell enough copies.

I really liked the ideas in EiC, and was the guy arguing the most that we should publish that game back in the days..

 

[SAS]

Sad to hear

 

[Naselus]

I thought Nitro's main problem was poor expansions, tbh; they should have followed the NI/AHD style massive gameplay enhancement approach rather than just churning out extra campaigns for their games.

 

[delra]

It's almost like someone was forcing those external studios to do "EA style" kind of crappy tiny overpriced (4 euro for 4 buses IS overpriced) countless (search GG for CIM add-ons for an example) DLCs rather than giving them a couple months to look at the game as a whole and add those extra few features they didn't manage to add before the release. Maybe it pays off somehow, 1 day of work later selling for 4 euro a pop, but it doesn't expand the title and doesn't build up the community.

Another thing is terrible pre-release QA, which seems to be a thing of the past for Paradox itself, but still plagues all those external studios. How many external titles launched with "give me my money back" "fire Susana for false advertisement" as the prevailing theme in their forum? Magicka, SOTS2, Gettysburg, Fire&Sword to only name a couple... It can't be good for Paradox, PR-wise and sales-wise...

 

[hygge0302]

I'll follow this thread.

 

[AdAstra]

I thought Nitro's main problem was poor expansions, tbh; they should have followed the NI/AHD style massive gameplay enhancement approach rather than just churning out extra campaigns for their games.

I used to argue about one of their game Commander was its name.

Nitro's problem's was poor execution and non profitable niche group. Focusing on either area will grant em some success in possible future...

 

[Comrade Chaos]

I thought Gettysburg was doing okay. I mean the game may have had a less than stellar release but everyone likes Dan.

 

[delra]

Warlock seems to be doing well for itself with almost no whining in the forum after the launch, but I only know about its existence from this forum. Maybe it's marketing budgets that's still lacking?

 

[Shams]

It's almost like someone was forcing those external studios to do "EA style" kind of crappy tiny overpriced (4 euro for 4 buses IS overpriced) countless (search GG for CIM add-ons for an example) DLCs rather than giving them a couple months to look at the game as a whole and add those extra few features they didn't manage to add before the release. Maybe it pays off somehow, 1 day of work later selling for 4 euro a pop, but it doesn't expand the title and doesn't build up the community.

Another thing is terrible pre-release QA, which seems to be a thing of the past for Paradox itself, but still plagues all those external studios. How many external titles launched with "give me my money back" "fire Susana for false advertisement" as the prevailing theme in their forum? Magicka, SOTS2, Gettysburg, Fire&Sword to only name a couple... It can't be good for Paradox, PR-wise and sales-wise...

You know what? That could be true WE ARE EA...or it's almost like all those smaller DLC's are selling really well and kinda exactly what people are asking for. Besides they're making city DLC's as well.

One thing is right tho - QA for 3rd party titles could be better.

/s

 

[delra]

Whether you make good buck or not, I'd still want more for CiM than just extra cities and vehicles. To develop it as a whole, like Paradox developed EU3 into a whole new game with expansions.

And btw, Shams you could drop by the Cartel forum some time and maybe give us some update there, if it's being made yet, by whom, what's the plan and so on.

 

[Shams]

Whether you make good buck or not, I'd still want more for CiM than just extra cities and vehicles. To develop it as a whole, like Paradox developed EU3 into a whole new game with expansions.

And btw, Shams you could drop by the Cartel forum some time and maybe give us some update there, if it's being made yet, by whom, what's the plan and so on.

There's a symbiont relationship between what people want and what makes us money.

Cartel forum next!

/s

 

[delra]

I just can't accept that something that worked so well for Paradox itself, isn't even considered a solution for the external studios. I can only hope they are secretly making CiM2 in the basement, those girls at CO have some real talent and if you want to chain them to making DLCs all their lives, you're wasting it.