Long thread ahead. You have been warned!
Hello everyone. I, just like a lot of people out there have been a little bit suprised by the fact that Victoria 3 wasn't announced on PDXCON 2019. Instead CK 3 was announced for 2020. Well I think I might have an idea what is going on and what is Paradox's potential plan with their releases for the future or the next generation of their grand strategy games. As we all know the release of CK 2 is what really kickstarted the Paradox Interactive into a new age, as well as their new DLC policy they started using since then. When you look at the development cycle of their new releases you can see that there is quite a bit of down time between them. CK 2 came out in 2012 and EU IV came out in 2013, reasonable time frame between releases. But then it took them another 3 years up until 2016 to release new games in the form of Stellaris and HOI IV, and then another 3 years up until 2019 to release Imperator: Rome.
In these intermediate periods they only relayed on DLCs to cover the costs. And as we all know their DLC policy didn't always turn out to be for the best, especially in the case of CK 2 and EU IV. Too many DLC and too many of them were just small money grabs. Their Stellaris and HOI IV DLC policies were a lot better, bigger more content rich DLC with longer development cycles. Probably taught with these experiences and the fact that some of the games didn't really turn out that well in their initial releases, most notable with Imperator: Rome. Paradox probably decided to change some of their release plans for their future games and their general DLC policy which will probably be more in vein of HOI IV and Stellaris.
So instead of risking longer development periods between new releases and relying simply on DLC content which is not always received and sold in the best way, they might go for a release of a new game every year. And that new era actually started this year with the release of Imperator. And continues next year with CK 3. CK 2 and EU IV are at the end of their development cycles, the games have been out for so long and as much as they changed in the past 6-7 years, sometimes a new game is better since you can't always change the fundamentals. I also think they are gonna go chronological with these releases, Imperator was the earliest time period, followed by CK 3 as the next one.
EU V is probably gonna follow in 2021, because it will be high time for it by then. And then that brings us to Victoria 3 which by that logic would be the next one with 2022 release date. I think Vicoria 3 has been in development already but because of the complexity of some of its systems and the fact that their biggest money makers CK2 and EUIV are are at the end and the fact that right now they can't risk another big blunder like Imperator the release has been postponed to a newer generation. That is why at this stage the release of CK 3 is a much safer bet. After Victoria 3, HOI V will probably follow in 2023 and Stellaris 2 in 2024 (Or maybe finally that Cold War game we have all wanted. East vs West, remember how you killed it Paradox?). This means new game every year, which avoids longer periods of just relying on DLCs for income, and in the case of some blunders they still have a chance to fix it with next year's new release rather than going through a longer process of fixing the already existing game.
Just as mentioned these are my two cents on what is the plan for the future. Of course I could be entirely, miserably wrong about all of it. I just hope I am not wrong about that Cold War game (hope you are reading this Paradox).
Hello everyone. I, just like a lot of people out there have been a little bit suprised by the fact that Victoria 3 wasn't announced on PDXCON 2019. Instead CK 3 was announced for 2020. Well I think I might have an idea what is going on and what is Paradox's potential plan with their releases for the future or the next generation of their grand strategy games. As we all know the release of CK 2 is what really kickstarted the Paradox Interactive into a new age, as well as their new DLC policy they started using since then. When you look at the development cycle of their new releases you can see that there is quite a bit of down time between them. CK 2 came out in 2012 and EU IV came out in 2013, reasonable time frame between releases. But then it took them another 3 years up until 2016 to release new games in the form of Stellaris and HOI IV, and then another 3 years up until 2019 to release Imperator: Rome.
In these intermediate periods they only relayed on DLCs to cover the costs. And as we all know their DLC policy didn't always turn out to be for the best, especially in the case of CK 2 and EU IV. Too many DLC and too many of them were just small money grabs. Their Stellaris and HOI IV DLC policies were a lot better, bigger more content rich DLC with longer development cycles. Probably taught with these experiences and the fact that some of the games didn't really turn out that well in their initial releases, most notable with Imperator: Rome. Paradox probably decided to change some of their release plans for their future games and their general DLC policy which will probably be more in vein of HOI IV and Stellaris.
So instead of risking longer development periods between new releases and relying simply on DLC content which is not always received and sold in the best way, they might go for a release of a new game every year. And that new era actually started this year with the release of Imperator. And continues next year with CK 3. CK 2 and EU IV are at the end of their development cycles, the games have been out for so long and as much as they changed in the past 6-7 years, sometimes a new game is better since you can't always change the fundamentals. I also think they are gonna go chronological with these releases, Imperator was the earliest time period, followed by CK 3 as the next one.
EU V is probably gonna follow in 2021, because it will be high time for it by then. And then that brings us to Victoria 3 which by that logic would be the next one with 2022 release date. I think Vicoria 3 has been in development already but because of the complexity of some of its systems and the fact that their biggest money makers CK2 and EUIV are are at the end and the fact that right now they can't risk another big blunder like Imperator the release has been postponed to a newer generation. That is why at this stage the release of CK 3 is a much safer bet. After Victoria 3, HOI V will probably follow in 2023 and Stellaris 2 in 2024 (Or maybe finally that Cold War game we have all wanted. East vs West, remember how you killed it Paradox?). This means new game every year, which avoids longer periods of just relying on DLCs for income, and in the case of some blunders they still have a chance to fix it with next year's new release rather than going through a longer process of fixing the already existing game.
Just as mentioned these are my two cents on what is the plan for the future. Of course I could be entirely, miserably wrong about all of it. I just hope I am not wrong about that Cold War game (hope you are reading this Paradox).
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