What you would rather we did? Jump on the same bandwagon that every other developer currently is chasing?
To be honest, if you want more than me complaining (which is basically what this is going to be because this is already happening and there's nothing I can do but shake my head in agitated amazement at this decision, so please, bear that fact in mind you and anyone else who reads this post of mine. I had all night at work to think about it.) I would have preferred you guys instead went a different route and just made a for consoles only game, or a game meant for consoles that could also be on PC.
Hell, you could have still had it be a part of Stellaris by making it be part of the Stellaris universe. Give a way to actually flesh some things out with those pre-set Empires by making a sort of (or at least on branch) of a Canon Stellaris universe. Maybe it could have been exploration based with solving puzzles to discover strange anomalies and secrets, or it could have been a ship fighting game where your a Captain of the UNE ship that goes on various missions as the UNE expands and encounters new threats and friends alike. Could even have then had future DLC be different campaigns or mission scenario things that let you play as different races from the games Preset species.
Not do what to me is a waste of time, money, energy and resources, even if it's not taking away from PC Stellaris
now.
We believe our unique flavor of strategy games can work on console, we believe there is an audience for them out there. Sure, this is a risk, but it is one worth taking.
I would disagree immensely, in large part because
Grand Strategy Games are a PC niche part of gaming. Startegy in the form of
Turn-Based or
Real Time Strategy are games that can at least make some sense for being on consoles and have had some success, but in my lifetime of gaming I am trying and failing to come up with the name of any actually good or great
Grand Strategy Games that's been on a console, and while I'm sure there's bound to be a select few out there, they don't seem to have gotten far or done all that well.
To me, it's a stupid risk. It to me is a risk being made that, as a few have mentioned, could also signal a trend of Paradox moving away from PC gaming and towards more Console Gaming, and with it, maybe not a dumbing down, but a simplifying of many things that give Paradox some of the Fanbase it has (and Stellaris too)
As for time and resources, Tantalus are great at what they do and mean that a project like this doesn't take anything away from Stellaris on PC or PDS in general. In fact, we have more resources on Stellaris PC now than ever before. If this game works on console, then it can only be good for the PC version as well, as anything we do on PC can then end up on console making the game even bigger and better.
I already stated I see this as a waste even if Stellaris PC has the same or more resources, and since I find the idea of taking the Stellaris GSG and putting it on Console I don't see that last bit as really being a net positive.
Side note, PC development isn't being impacted by this, we have no intention of dumbing down the experience for anyone. If console players can't handle the depth or complexity of the PC game, even with our awesome new UI, then their missing out, because the PC game isn't going to get less complex or deep.
Alternatively, their not missing out because they don't have interest in a game of that genre type that's complex or deep.
In my experience most of the time both with console games myself, and for other gamers among my family and friends who prefer console games, one of the core things that I think that GSG's are a weak point on and one reason why they don't do well on consoles is that to some extent, every GSG involves some amount of time sinking. It involves letting the clock go by while you wait for something to happen. Stellaris isn't to me really a game you pick up and play for half an hour or an hour and feel like you necessarily accomplished much (especially in late game when some things begin to slow down making speed drag) Many games designed for Consoles however don't always have this- you can play for even ten minutes and feel like you've done something whereas if I play Stellaris on regular speed for ten minutes, it's entirely likely I might have just sat there staring at a screen and looking at things.
GSG's when it comes to PC gaming are... like alternate history. Alternate History is rich, deep, and complex and has a wide variety of authors and styles in it. But, within the fiction realm, it's a niche, and it's a niche that probably isn't ever going to suddenly break out big and create new markets or make lots of money.
This is very much our mentality towards console gaming, it's an addition to our core focus of PC. Our games will always be PC first and some of them will find a home on console and others won't.
Personally, I am still of the opinion that if Paradox wants to get into Console Games, then they shouldn't try porting their strategy games over the Consoles. They should make new, Console Focused games that are their own thing.