Paradox Interactive now owns 100% of developer Harebrained Schemes

Quoting: Stupendous ManBig publishers buying small studios is never a good thing for the customer. Do we really want a few large publishers only and not small independent studios with creative freedom?

Yet this is the way indies usually grow into AAA studios. I'm not a fan of big companies in general, but this isn't as simple as you might think. It's entirely up to the publisher if they give developers free rein or play it safe. Usually things go to shit when the bureaucracy grows big enough that the ones making decisions have no interest in the end product beyond how much money it brings in.

I'm not a Paradox fan. If I look at Stellaris:
* It has Linux support.
* It is still being updated (a few years after release).
* It is only on Steam, not GOG.
* It is more a shell of a game with rather barebones factions and no background story. It's left up to modders to make it a good game.
* It has tons of DLC and you'll have a hard time even figure out what they do.
* If you buy all DLC you probably pay for two games (guess).
* If you bought every DLC when it comes out you probably paid for three games (guess).

How they handle BattleTech will be one stick to measure them by.
Will it come out on Linux?
Will it not become a DLC nightmare as they promised? They said there will only be large expansions and Paradox has nothing to say in this matter, as they are just publishing. That has changed now.

Quoting: marcus

Quoting: Schattenspiegelbut they also deeply into this telemetry and required user accounts crap

Can you qualify that? IMHO the "required user accounts crap" is wrong. I own CK2, EU4, Tyranny, PoE and none of these games forces me to have an account. If I have one I can sign in, but I was never forced.

I find they have a tendency not to sign me in automatically even when I want them to, actually. But that's neither here nor there. The point is that no, user accounts aren't required. I played CKII, EUIV, and Cities Skylines for well over a year before I even set one up.

Quoting: Sir_Diealot* It is more a shell of a game with rather barebones factions and no background story. It's left up to modders to make it a good game.

Oh, come on. I've owned it almost since day one, and I've only used a gameplay-altering mod once (I've used some graphical mods more regularly).

Quote* If you buy all DLC you probably pay for two games (guess).
* If you bought every DLC when it comes out you probably paid for three games (guess).

Nobody has a gun to your head. It's perfectly playable without any DLC. I only have the anniversary portraits and Horizon Signal, which were both free.

But if you do want it, Paradox games are regularly on sale. You can easily pick up the main game plus some DLC for less than the normal price of the game itself. I'm fairly sure I still haven't spent more than £50 all-told on CK2, and I have seven paid DLC packs (plus, again, a few free ones). And almost 300 hours of gameplay, with plenty more to come. When I think back to the arcades, 17p for an hour seems like a pretty good deal to me.

Quoting: marcusCan you qualify that? IMHO the "required user accounts crap" is wrong. I own CK2, EU4, Tyranny, PoE and none of these games forces me to have an account. [...]

Sure they do not force you but they clearly urge you.
Looking at CK2 for example: Let's say you are searching for a MOD to make the UI easier on the eyes. You will see that all links to mods that do not point to paradox mod forum have been deleted from Steam. Paradox mod forum access does require to have an paradox account (unlike the normal forum where you can at least read the content without one).
Promotional giveaways require an account too and if I read correctly for Battletech you have te log into your account on every game start to get your backer rewards in game.
Multiplayer also tends to need being logged in.
In conclusion I would not call it purely optional either.
Concerning telemetry - well they sure are not the only ones doing it and maybe they are simply more upfront with it then other, but that does not mean I must like it that they are trying to gather data at all.


Last edited by Schattenspiegel on 7 June 2018 at 2:01 pm UTC

I'm not sure i like that. Paradox may be quite Linux friendly, but they are becoming big, and big stuff tend to act like they own the world. I prefer to deal with several little studios, and that's why i mostly play indi games rather than large "AAA" ones.

Quoting: TcheyI'm not sure i like that. Paradox may be quite Linux friendly, but they are becoming big, and big stuff tend to act like they own the world. I prefer to deal with several little studios, and that's why i mostly play indi games rather than large "AAA" ones.

I'm ambivalent about that. I don't disagree with your point as such--I'd prefer a world dominated by lots of little studios rather than a few big ones. And I'm not personally that invested in AAA games coming to Linux, but the people who say we need AAA games in order to be considered a serious gaming platform (and thus grow in market share) have a point. And the way things are with the current AAA game publishers, I'd say we're more likely to get games through Linux-friendly studios becoming AAA than by existing AAA companies becoming Linux-friendly.

Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: Stupendous ManBig publishers buying small studios is never a good thing for the customer. Do we really want a few large publishers only and not small independent studios with creative freedom?

Yet this is the way indies usually grow into AAA studios. I'm not a fan of big companies in general, but this isn't as simple as you might think. It's entirely up to the publisher if they give developers free rein or play it safe. Usually things go to shit when the bureaucracy grows big enough that the ones making decisions have no interest in the end product beyond how much money it brings in.

Wandering off topic, I think this is why Valve seems to be somewhat odd for a big company--the top guns and ownership are mostly nerds who are still interested in nerd issues and maybe even still get their hands dirty sometimes.

Quoting: Stupendous ManBig publishers buying small studios is never a good thing for the customer. Do we really want a few large publishers only and not small independent studios with creative freedom?

I wouldnt call Paradox big in terms of reach Codemasters is bigger and they only have two franchises worth a damn and they have stayed linux friendly granted they use vp to port their linux games but Paradox are certainly trying to become a big publisher rather than being the grand strat guys if they continue to support linux then good.

I have said before and i ll say it again I have become very concerned about triple a ports yes i iknow its only natural the momentium slowed down but its june half way through the year and we have had two triple A games Tomb Raider ROTR and Total war Britannia (which i grant you is recent but not a surprise as it uses the Attilla engine) I hope am just reading to much into it and we will get at least two big games this year or at least an annoucement that Hitman 2 is coming to linux day one since they just annouced the pre order bonus of getting the first game free if you buy the second one.


Last edited by Whitewolfe80 on 8 June 2018 at 2:01 am UTC