The Wargamer

Introduction

While Sweden's Paradox Interactive could have been content in creating historical delights ranging from the Middle Ages to World War II, the developer has recently begun venturing into ambitious territory.  Last year it began publishing titles from third party developers, including Knights of Honor and Rush to Berlin, and this year it announced the opening of a new online gaming portal, Gamer's Gate.  The portal serves as a digital storefront for all of Paradox's games, as well as other publishers seeking to deliver their games quickly and painlessly to consumers.  

From that platform, Paradox will launch on August 17th Victoria: Revolutions, a $9.99 expansion pack to their 19th century grand strategy game of the same name. Available only online, Paradox will be truly testing the waters of an online only distribution for one of its games.  Just weeks before the game's release, we spoke to Johan Andersson of Paradox about the new add-on and its implications for Paradox's future.

The Interview

The Wargamer (WG): The original Victoria was released over two years ago. Why did you decide to add an expansion to this game, rather than one of your more recent franchises?

Johan Andersson (JA): We are very lucky to have more than 55 000 registered members following our different releases and they keep our games alive for years after their releases with discussions, After Action Reports, mods and more. The Victoria community has kept very active and vocal and this decision can be credited to them and to our team. Victoria has always been a personal favorite in the Paradox office, and we felt there was still more we could do for the title to enhance the gaming experience further.

WG: Victoria: Revolutions was announced as a download-only game through Gamers Gate. Why did you decide to only distribute the game through that outlet? Do you have any plans to release the game via retail channels or as a standalone product?

JA: Releasing Victoria: Revolutions on Gamer’s Gate meant we did not have to take all steps (and costs) involved in a traditional release into account and were able to focus our decisions and plans solely on what the fans want. 

We also believe that strategy gamers as well as developers and publishers s need a common platform like Gamer’s Gate, taking the needs of the strategy community seriously. Releasing Victoria: Revolutions exclusively on Gamer’s Gate will introduce the platform to many new gamers. 

WG: What are some of the major features players can expect to find in Victoria: Revolutions? What changes were inspired by requests from the Victoria userbase?

JA: The major features are a more detailed politics, better economic system, colonization has had a complete overhaul, and we've added 30 new techs, with loads of inventions. When we came to design Revolutions we looked closely at what our fans were asking for and tried to incorporate as much of these as possible into the design.

WG: What are the time periods that Victoria: Revolutions covers, and what differs from the original Victoria?

JA: Victoria: Revolutions covers the period from 1836-1935. Victoria ended at 1920 so Revolutions includes the turbulent interwar period.

WG: According to the new announcement, players can now link up their Victoria campaign with Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday. How will this work?

JA: There is an option now to export your game to Doomsday, this will create a saved game in the Doomsday format with a start date 1st January 1936, then you are ready to play.

WG: What are some of the improvements you’ve made to the colonization?

JA: The biggest change is now we've tied to colonization to the life rating (how a good a place it is to live) of the province. Initially you can only colonize provinces with very high life rating, but as you research more technology the number of provinces you can colonize increases. In testing we've found that this gives a much more historical results.

WG: What are some of the major changes or improvements you’ve made?

JA: The biggest other change is in the economic system. Now your capitalists can build factories and railways too. As your government's economic policy changes so too does your control over the economy. It changes the way you play the game, and if the wrong political party wins the election you could be looking at having to totally change your plans.

WG: When can players expect Revolutions to be available? Will it be available to all Victoria owners? What sort of pricing do you expect?

JA: Victoria: Revolutions will sell for $9.99/€9.99 on Gamer's Gate. It will be ready in August and with a download only version, it will release as soon as it’s completed, no extra lead times needed.

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