Europa Universalis 4 game director apologises for years of 'low quality releases'

Paradox Tinto studio manager Johan Andersson has apologised for a long string of "low-quality" releases for Europa Universalis 4.

Posting on the Paradox forums, Andersson admitted that Leviathan, the game's most recent update, was "one of the worst releases we have had". But this wasn't a one-off—the EU4 game director feels Leviathan was only the cap on a "long trail of low quality releases" that, in his eyes, began with Golden Century back in 2018.

"As the studio manager and game director, at the end of the day, this is my responsibility, so I have to apologize for this," Andersson writes. "This is entirely my fault."

This comes in response to an overwhelmingly negative response to Leviathan, thanks in part to an armada of bugs, crashes, and seemingly unfinished mechanics. This, in part, may come down to the fact that Leviathan was the first to be developed by Paradox's new Tinto studio, headed up by Andersson and largely composed of new hires. 

"I should have delayed the start of the development of Leviathan until we had all the resources that were needed, and they had time to properly onboard on the project. We should have announced a break in the development of EU4 after the Emperor release, until we had a team ready to start designing and working early in 2021.

"We are partially changing our plans for the rest of the year. We had originally planned to fix all legacy bugs before we stop developing further expansions for EU4. Now we are accelerating these plans, and also making sure that the community will be getting them frequently."

EU4 isn't the only area where Paradox is slipping, mind. The publisher's latest financials reported a 9% drop in profits this quarter, dropping to 44% when compared to last year (via GamesIndustry). CEO Ebba Ljungerud said the publisher was "not satisfied" by these results, citing a lack of full-price expansions for its PC games.

"Sometimes there are periods with fewer and smaller game and expansion releases. But we can do better than this and our ambitions are higher."

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Paradox Tinto studio manager Johan Andersson has apologised for a long string of "low-quality" releases for Europa Universalis 4.

Posting on the Paradox forums, Andersson admitted that Leviathan, the game's most recent update, was "one of the worst releases we have had". But this wasn't a one-off—the EU4 game director feels Leviathan was only the cap on a "long trail of low quality releases" that, in his eyes, began with Golden Century back in 2018.

"As the studio manager and game director, at the end of the day, this is my responsibility, so I have to apologize for this," Andersson writes. "This is entirely my fault."

This comes in response to an overwhelmingly negative response to Leviathan, thanks in part to an armada of bugs, crashes, and seemingly unfinished mechanics. This, in part, may come down to the fact that Leviathan was the first to be developed by Paradox's new Tinto studio, headed up by Andersson and largely composed of new hires. 

"I should have delayed the start of the development of Leviathan until we had all the resources that were needed, and they had time to properly onboard on the project. We should have announced a break in the development of EU4 after the Emperor release, until we had a team ready to start designing and working early in 2021.

"We are partially changing our plans for the rest of the year. We had originally planned to fix all legacy bugs before we stop developing further expansions for EU4. Now we are accelerating these plans, and also making sure that the community will be getting them frequently."

EU4 isn't the only area where Paradox is slipping, mind. The publisher's latest financials reported a 9% drop in profits this quarter, dropping to 44% when compared to last year (via GamesIndustry). CEO Ebba Ljungerud said the publisher was "not satisfied" by these results, citing a lack of full-price expansions for its PC games.

"Sometimes there are periods with fewer and smaller game and expansion releases. But we can do better than this and our ambitions are higher."

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