Paradox Development Studio

Paradox Development Studio is a Swedish video game developer founded in 1995. It is closely associated with its parent company and video game publisher, Paradox Interactive. It is best known for its grand strategy game series Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, and Victoria.

History

Paradox Development Studio is based on the heritage of the Swedish board game company Target Games and has been a game developer of PC-focused grand strategy games since 1995. From the start, Target Games designed board games and created the PC Game named Svea Rike, based on a board game. The company continued to create PC games and in 1999 the company was divided into two separate entities: Paradox Interactive which focused on developing grand strategy games for PC and Paradox Entertainment which focused on creating board games and role-playing games.

Paradox Interactive began to self-publish their own strategy games and quickly expanded their portfolio by publishing PC games from other development studios.

In January 2012, the company divided yet again into two companies—Paradox Interactive became the game publisher focused on PC games of various genres and Paradox Development Studio became the game development studio focused on grand strategy games. The Stockholm based studio Paradox Development Studio is the developer behind franchises such as Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings,^[2] Hearts of Iron^[3] and Victoria.

The game development studio was one of the first video game developers to coin the genre "Grand Strategy"^[4] and most of the games the studio has developed falls into that category. Grand strategy games are historical strategy games that usually cover the entire world map and include elements such as economy, diplomacy and warfare. The games developed by Paradox Development Studio are all highly moddable and support multiplayer for up to 32 players. Paradox Development Studio currently consists of 32 persons working on four parallel projects.^[5] The studio manager Johan Andersson has led the game development team since Target Games. Several of the studios members have a background from the modding and beta testing community; including members such as project lead Henrik Fåhraeus, project lead Thomas Johansson and game designer Chris King.

The studio's game Crusader Kings II is one of the highest rated games of 2012 according to Metacritic.^[6] In August 2013 the development studio released Europa Universalis IV,^[7][8] the latest installment in their empire building series.

Clausewitz Engine

In 2007 the Paradox Development Studio debuted a proprietary game engine, titled Clausewitz, in Europa Universalis III which has been put to use in every game developed by PDS since. The engine provides a 3D view of part or the totality of the world map, depending on the played game. Sengoku was the first game utilizing the Clausewitz 2.5 engine.

List of video games

List of games developed by Paradox Development Studio.^[9]

In addition to this list there are two other titles developed in the early 2000s when the studio was part of Paradox Entertainment, Crown of the North and Two Thrones, both part of the Svea Rike series.

List of upcoming projects

See also

• List of Paradox Interactive games
• Paradox Interactive

External links

• Paradox Development Studio Official webpage (Game developer)
• Paradox Interactive Official webpage (Game publisher)
• Paradox Development Studio on Mobygames
• Europa Universalis IV Official Product Page
• Crusader Kings II page at Metacritic
• Gamersgate - Digital distribution portal sorted on Game Developer
• The Grandest PC Strategy Game of All Returns in 2013 – Article at Kotaku
• Paradox: Past, present, and future – Interview at Destructoid
• Paradox Development Studio Games listed by Gamefaqs
• Games sorted by Game Developer at Strategy Informer
• The Future of Gaming: An Interview With Paradox - PlayerAffinity Interview

References