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They just released their 2022 annual report. In that it says employees at end of the year 2022 (idk if that’s fiscal or calendar) is down to 656 from 721 at the end of 2021, roughly equivalent to the end of the 2020, and up ~250 from the end of 2018.
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Apr 26, 2023 12:50
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Most tech/software companies are shedding employees now that the Corona boom times have come to a close. Still being up 250 from 2018 is a clear sign that they're in good health.
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Apr 26, 2023 13:02
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RabidWeasel posted:I remember levies being kind of messed up but I don't remember exactly what it was, what does this fix? The levy composition calculations weren't properly weighted by culture, so you'd have situation where one random Punic pop would turn an entire region's levy into elephants, etc. The patch notes say it was "inversed", which I guess means a culture would be weighted higher the smaller a fraction of the total it was? That would fit with what I was seeing in game.
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Apr 26, 2023 13:04
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Torrannor posted:Most tech/software companies are shedding employees now that the Corona boom times have come to a close. Still being up 250 from 2018 is a clear sign that they're in good health. Oh yeah they’re definitely in good health. It’s a shame that they’re consolidating their more far-flung studios like Arctic for sure - I hope those people were at least offered jobs at their main campus. But they’re definitely doing very well financially (and, imo, making very good games rn).
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Apr 26, 2023 13:06
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Torrannor posted:For all this talk of Paradox studios closing, but having two separate studios working on Stellaris to pump out two big DLCs just two months apart, while still supporting the custodian team that makes free updates and integrates old and new mechanics doesn't speak to a real shrinking in the company.
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Apr 26, 2023 13:41
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AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:What talk of Paradox studios closing? Two support studios in other parts of Sweden from where Paradox HQ is. Paradox Arctic and Thalassic, I think? Arctic was a support studio for Stellaris and Thalassic I believe helped out on CK3.
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Apr 26, 2023 16:18
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AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:What talk of Paradox studios closing? https://gameworldobserver.com/2023/04/05/paradox-closes-two-studios-arctic-thalassic
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Apr 26, 2023 16:36
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KOGAHAZAN!! posted:The levy composition calculations weren't properly weighted by culture, so you'd have situation where one random Punic pop would turn an entire region's levy into elephants, etc. Oh! I remember that bug, it actually was extremely annoying even though I'm not sure if I ever saw anyone figure out the exact cause. Part of the fun of Imperator was using certain cultural levies to make super soldiers for cheap. I'll definitely jump back in for a game or two. Anno posted:Two support studios in other parts of Sweden from where Paradox HQ is. Paradox Arctic and Thalassic, I think? Arctic was a support studio for Stellaris and Thalassic I believe helped out on CK3. I think Thalassic worked on the Imperator DLC as well, not exactly an auspicious lineage
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Apr 26, 2023 16:48
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Anno posted:Two support studios in other parts of Sweden from where Paradox HQ is. Paradox Arctic and Thalassic, I think? Arctic was a support studio for Stellaris and Thalassic I believe helped out on CK3. Anno posted:Two support studios in other parts of Sweden from where Paradox HQ is. Paradox Arctic and Thalassic, I think? Arctic was a support studio for Stellaris and Thalassic I believe helped out on CK3.
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Apr 26, 2023 20:53
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I saw a screenshot recently of the DLC bloat paradox games have towards the end of their run life and I’ve been wondering: does anyone know why paradox doesn’t just do a big expansion every year or two which comes to supplant the previous one? I’m thinking something like how FF14 or Elder Scrolls Online only have you pay for the latest expansion (i understand these games also have a subscription model. I just wonder if it could apply to one without subs). If people only had to ever buy the base game + the latest expansion, it would feel much less daunting to get into their games if you come in later in the cycle. I’m sure they have there reason and after all im just a big dumb dumb
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May 18, 2023 18:56
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Because then you won't buy the previous ones.
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May 18, 2023 19:04
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Paradox GSGs as a whole have been growing pretty consistently since like CK2/EU4 right? I guess I’m not sure that it’s really that big of a hindrance, or at least not enough of one to offset the lost sales in their estimation. They do have those subscription options out there now, though.
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May 18, 2023 19:15
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ilitarist posted:Because then you won't buy the previous ones. Anecdotally, I see more people skipping on a title because of dlc bloat than the reverse. Having a single purchase to make would reduce the burden of choice and subsequent skip.
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May 18, 2023 22:59
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Because enough people buy in to the current DLC model that they make money, more money then they think they will make with a single large DLC per year. Even if some people are scared off by the length of the DLC list they still keep enough players that keep buying the DLCs to make it profitable.
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May 18, 2023 23:04
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There are a significant number of Paradox GSG players that would complain vocally if something they paid money for would later be released for free. I don't know if that affects PDX decision-making in any way (and it really shouldn't), but it's an idea that's out there.
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May 19, 2023 05:04
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You see the perception from a lot of non-fans of Paradox’s GSG lineup that Paradox is a scam company, unethical, false advertising etc etc, like you occasionally get with how CA has handled TWW DLC and that there’s little to nothing that would convince them otherwise. On the other hand you have most GSG fans who, while obviously not happy when something like Leviathan happens, are ultimately pretty fine with the pace and pricing of the content. Occasionally the focus of an expansion is kinda weird or unwanted and obviously everyone would be fine with them being cheaper and not locking core gameplay behind them. They are, at least with CK3 and probably Victoria 3, changing how they do expansions to what is probably a more sustainable model over time. And of course if that’s successful then the inevitable EU5, Stellaris 2 and HoI5, all pretty far off, will likely follow.
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May 19, 2023 05:25
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Jabor posted:There are a significant number of Paradox GSG players that would complain vocally if something they paid money for would later be released for free. They've made several dlc features free in eu4 and I saw no complaints tbh
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May 19, 2023 06:31
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Yeah, I've never seen any real backlash on anything released for free. It might play into armchair market analytics, like when people look into daily steam player count to confirm that The People hate the game also react to discounts (the game got 50% sale just after 5 months, it means it's a dead game). The deluxe edition or preorder content usually becomes free some time later and I don't think I ever saw complaints about that.
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May 19, 2023 08:14
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I'm mostly fine with how the dlc's are done. I just wish they were cheaper because they're NOT worth the full price and it takes forever before they go on sale. For example there's at least 4 Stellaris dlc that still aren't on sale and the oldest is about... 1½ year or so? It's not like any of the current made dlc would ever have been in the base game and I seriously doubt most of it would have been in say EU7 or Stellaris 4 if they had gone that route.
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May 19, 2023 09:45
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Paradox did finally break me with the $40 CK3 DLC. No thanks lol
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May 19, 2023 10:54
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October 31st, 2012 is a day I will always remember. It was the day I became cynical, bitter, and distraught. You may call it an overreaction for me to feel this way simply because of the business practices of a single video game company, but let me explain what all of this means to me. My life was thrown off balance and I never regained my footing after that day, because I lost my ability to respect. An essential part of being human is to feel respect for those who may or may not be deserving of it. But it is equally human to feel painful disillusionment when someone or something you respected turns out to be much less than you thought. But the level of betrayal I felt when Paradox announced their new DLC tore something from me that I'll never be able to recover. They tore away my ability to respect anything, and they tore away my ability to feel human. Paradox Interactive was a company I respected, and their employees were people I looked up to. Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, Victoria, and Hearts of Iron were all quality game series that combined historical accuracy with sandbox game worlds. These games may have been cartoony and humorous at times, but deep down they were always realistic and crafted with a level of detail and skill that won appreciation from gamers all across the internet. CK2 was their newest release, and the internet was in unanimous agreement that it was of unparallelled quality. Following it's long awaited release, Paradox began releasing quality DLC that raised the bar ever higher for Grand Strategy Games. Then Sunset Invasion was announced. This was not just an announcement of DLC, it was announcement of Paradox Interactive's suicide. It was an expansion intended to completely disregard any historical accuracy, and instead shock the entire world with its lunacy. Paradox Interactive had gone off the deep end and raised the middle finger to everybody who stayed loyal to them. They had announced that they didn't care anymore, that they didn't care for their community, and they were going to go out of their way to sabotage everything they had spent years creating. The pain I felt from this betrayal has destroyed me on an emotional level, and has deprived me of my primary source of entertainment. No longer can I play Grand Strategy games without remembering the day I ceased mattering to people I devoted myself to. Paradox had not just destroyed me or their company, they had destroyed the one force of stability in the world: Trust.
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May 19, 2023 11:03
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sunset invasion ftw
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May 19, 2023 11:06
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God has it really been a decade since that blessed day
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May 19, 2023 11:16
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i genuinely enjoy most paradox gsgs but a year after release there's so much useless poo poo added that it puts me off from playing at least victoria 3 has so much stuff from the get go that i can't imagine how they'll mess that up
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May 19, 2023 11:30
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Poil posted:It's not like any of the current made dlc would ever have been in the base game and I seriously doubt most of it would have been in say EU7 or Stellaris 4 if they had gone that route. Not in terms of quantity of course, but I can imagine those games getting an overall facelift. If we'd get EU7 this year instead of the expansions we got it would probably have half of the mechanics but, first, maybe we'd be better off without some of them or never notice they're gone. Second, you'd get cohesive UI with modern features like a proper font renderer, nested tooltips, accessibility options, etc. Devs make improvements on UI from time to time but it's still a mess that would never look like that if the UI was made from the ground up.
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May 19, 2023 13:08
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ilitarist posted:Not in terms of quantity of course, but I can imagine those games getting an overall facelift. If we'd get EU7 this year instead of the expansions we got it would probably have half of the mechanics but, first, maybe we'd be better off without some of them or never notice they're gone. Second, you'd get cohesive UI with modern features like a proper font renderer, nested tooltips, accessibility options, etc. Devs make improvements on UI from time to time but it's still a mess that would never look like that if the UI was made from the ground up.
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May 19, 2023 13:26
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genericnick posted:I see Deliver Us The Moon is on sale again. Who was it again, who hyped it up? Gradenko? I am replying to a post from two months ago but yes, I thought Deliver Us The Moon was excellent, and highly recommend it. It's like a hard science, Apollo 13-ish adventure game by way of Myst (as in a silent protagonist that works alone) and FWIW, I have my reservations about Deliver Us Mars, the sequel, and what I will say is that you'll really want to get Moon first, and only pick up Mars if you enjoyed the first game V for Vegas posted:Good to see For the Glory beta patches still dropping, introducing features from EU3. does anyone here own this? what's the lowdown on how well it works on modern machines? I'm mostly looking for something that isn't going to ask me to change the desktop color depth (which happens with old Clausewitz games) and ideally something that can run on modern resolutions natively (Arsenal of Democracy does this, which is why I now consider it the superior heir to HOI2)
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May 19, 2023 13:38
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gradenko_2000 posted:I am replying to a post from two months ago but yes, I thought Deliver Us The Moon was excellent, and highly recommend it. It's like a hard science, Apollo 13-ish adventure game by way of Myst (as in a silent protagonist that works alone) To be fair, I did post it in the wrong thread.
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May 19, 2023 14:53
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A Buttery Pastry posted:Half the mechanics are just a different way to model a thing already in the game, so I definitely agree we'd be better off or not notice them being gone if they were replaced with a more cohesive and modern vision. Innovativeness was so drat goofy.
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May 19, 2023 17:54
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The name is very dumb, but I like the actual mechanic
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May 19, 2023 17:59
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THE BAR posted:Innovativeness was so drat goofy. You are but a child. You've moved on from tech cost reduction and institution spread to innovativeness, but you have not reached the new euphoria of modernization mechanic.
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May 19, 2023 18:09
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ItohRespectArmy posted:sunset invasion ftw
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May 20, 2023 00:06
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Hellioning posted:Because enough people buy in to the current DLC model that they make money, more money then they think they will make with a single large DLC per year. Even if some people are scared off by the length of the DLC list they still keep enough players that keep buying the DLCs to make it profitable. As someone who used to be a total whale, buying 100% of everything they put out. I've now started skipping dlcs. It started about half-way through EU4 and now I'm skipping on CK3 dlcs. I've got no interest in the recent Vicky 3 dlc and I'm also getting real iffy on Stellaris. I wouldn't be surprised if I stop buying DLCs entirely with the exception of HoI4. Hopefully it's working out for them, but it's turning me away and I've been buying all of their stuff since 2002.
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May 24, 2023 17:14
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v3 definitely needs a "war of the worlds" dlc later on in its cycle
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May 24, 2023 17:23
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Dramicus posted:As someone who used to be a total whale, buying 100% of everything they put out. I've now started skipping dlcs. It started about half-way through EU4 and now I'm skipping on CK3 dlcs. I've got no interest in the recent Vicky 3 dlc and I'm also getting real iffy on Stellaris. I wouldn't be surprised if I stop buying DLCs entirely with the exception of HoI4. yeah i can't say i like the shift in how they handle DLCs in the last few years. in the days when every DLC was half off upon the release of the next DLC i kept current-minus-1 and the games were always very playable that way. now that it takes like a year before they put it on sale at 20% off i just don't buy them at all.
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May 24, 2023 18:16
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Jazerus posted:yeah i can't say i like the shift in how they handle DLCs in the last few years. in the days when every DLC was half off upon the release of the next DLC i kept current-minus-1 and the games were always very playable that way. now that it takes like a year before they put it on sale at 20% off i just don't buy them at all. My DLC/x-pac buying has also become less consistent, but my perspective is just that a lot of the added content hasn't seemed worth it for the price (especially for HOI4 IMO). I don't have a problem with the model in principle though. They're pretty upfront about what you get from each release. The only time I felt added DLC was making a game I already owned worse was with EU4 for a while, but they've turned it around since then (release bugs notwithstanding). I just don't get where the level of animosity I see in their steam reviews and forums is coming from.
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May 24, 2023 18:47
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I don't think the steam review thing is unique to Paradox. I've noticed a similar trend for a lot of games recently. People don't seem to be reviewing products on their merits, but using the rating of more of how satisfied they are with the company. The recent Chaos Dwarf DLC for CA is a good example. It's a really good product. Probably the best race pack they've ever done. If you judge it on how good of a DLC it is, it's top notch, at least 8/10 if not higher. But people are leaving negative reviews for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with the DLC. They are just upset with CA as a company.
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May 24, 2023 18:57
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Dramicus posted:I don't think the steam review thing is unique to Paradox. I've noticed a similar trend for a lot of games recently. People don't seem to be reviewing products on their merits, but using the rating of more of how satisfied they are with the company. The recent Chaos Dwarf DLC for CA is a good example. It's a really good product. Probably the best race pack they've ever done. If you judge it on how good of a DLC it is, it's top notch, at least 8/10 if not higher. But people are leaving negative reviews for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with the DLC. They are just upset with CA as a company. It’s the end result of identity politics. People that have assimilated a company as part of their persona, that identify strongly with one, now react strongly as if attacked when said company (appears to) badly performs. It becomes an attack on their moral and so they lash back.
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May 24, 2023 20:58
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Jazerus posted:yeah i can't say i like the shift in how they handle DLCs in the last few years. in the days when every DLC was half off upon the release of the next DLC i kept current-minus-1 and the games were always very playable that way. now that it takes like a year before they put it on sale at 20% off i just don't buy them at all.  They even raised the price of the last story pack by +50% compared to the older story packs. And those were already overpriced for what they are. Poil fucked around with this message at 21:11 on May 24, 2023 |
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May 24, 2023 21:06
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Popoto posted:It’s the end result of identity politics. People that have assimilated a company as part of their persona, that identify strongly with one, now react strongly as if attacked when said company (appears to) badly performs. It becomes an attack on their moral and so they lash back. The counterpoint to this is that it seems to be working? Companies seem to be of the opinion that Steam Reviews matter to their bottom line (I have idea or opinion on how true that is), and so this is a pretty effective way for consumers to signal to game makers. It's a double edged sword for sure as I'm certain there's loads of right-wing manufactured outrage about the existence of non-white non-men in video games, but people are just as angry about lovely DLC policies and onerous DRM systems.
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May 24, 2023 21:16
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.