Paradox Development Studio
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary of Paradox Interactive |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Johan Andersson (Studio manager) |
| Products | Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Victoria, Crusader Kings, Imperator, and Stellaris series |
Number of employees | 150 (2021)[1] |
| Parent | Paradox Interactive |
Paradox Development Studio (PDS) 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 wargame series Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Victoria, Crusader Kings, Stellaris, and Imperator.
History
PDS 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, including the Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Victoria, Crusader Kings, Stellaris, and Imperator series. The company continued to create PC games and in 1999, the company was divided into two separate entities: Paradox Interactive, which focused on creating grand strategy games for PC, and Paradox Entertainment, which focused on creating board and role-playing games.
In January 2012, the company divided yet again into two studios, becoming Paradox Interactive and Paradox Development Studio. 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 game development studio was one of the first video game developers to create games in the grand strategy genre, and most of the games the studio has developed fall into that category. Grand strategy games are strategy games that usually cover the entire world map and include elements such as economy, diplomacy and warfare.
Studios
In 2021, Paradox Development Studio has reorganized and split into five internal development teams, with each one handling one of the Paradox's own IPs.[2][3]
| Name | Studio Lead | Game |
|---|---|---|
| PDS Green | Rikard Jansson (Åslund) | Stellaris |
| PDS Black | Linda Tiger | Crusader Kings III |
| PDS Red | Johanna Uddståhl Friberg | Victoria 3 |
| PDS Gold | Thomas Johansson | Hearts of Iron IV |
| Paradox Tinto | Johan Andersson | Europa Universalis IV |
While this left Imperator: Rome without a dedicated development team, PDS leads stated that they are figuring out how they will return to the series in time.[4]
Game engines
To date, Paradox have engineered two main proprietary game engines for their titles, Europa and Clausewitz. Both were also designed to be open to anyone who wishes to modify the original game files to create mods. As a result, games can be modded with as little as a text editor, which has led to the development of strong modding communities for each of Paradox's games.[5]
Paradox developed its debut game Europa Universalis in 2000, and used large chunks of its code for its next games. Although this code overlap was subsequently referred to as the Europa Engine, studio manager Johan Andersson clarified that the 'engine' had not been part of the initial designs of each of the company's first six games, and that it just resulted from copy-pasting large parts of code from one game to the next.[6] In April 2008, Paradox allowed certain indie game developers to freely use the (by then) superseded engine as part of their Europa Engine Licensing Program.[7][8][9] The move led to the development of games such as For the Glory, Arsenal of Democracy, Darkest Hour, and Iron Cross.
In 2007, the studio debuted a new game engine, called Clausewitz Engine in Europa Universalis III.[10] Named after the Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz, the new engine is written in the C++ programming language and provides a 3D view of part or the totality of the world map, depending on the played game. Sengoku (released 2011) was the first game utilizing the Clausewitz 2 engine. The studio's 17th game, Imperator: Rome (released 2019), was also built using Clausewitz, but with the addition of new 64-bit software known as "Jomini" (named after 19th century Swiss general Antoine-Henri Jomini)[11] that allows for better 3D rendering and easier creation of mods. The newly improved engine now also features support for DirectX 11.[12]
List of games developed
List of games developed by Paradox Development Studios.[13] Note that in addition to this list there are two other games 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.
Europa Engine
| Name | Released | Expansions | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europa Universalis | 2000 | — | |
| Europa Universalis II | 2001 | — | |
| Hearts of Iron | 2002 | — | |
| Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun | 2003 | Revolutions | 2006 |
| Crusader Kings | 2004 | Deus Vult | 2007 |
| Hearts of Iron II | 2005 | Doomsday | 2006 |
| Armageddon | 2007 |
Clausewitz Engine
| Name | Released | Expansions | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europa Universalis III | 2007 | Napoleon's Ambition | 2007 |
| In Nomine | 2008 | ||
| Heir to the Throne | 2009 | ||
| Divine Wind | 2010 | ||
| Europa Universalis: Rome | 2008 | Vae Victis | 2008 |
| Hearts of Iron III | 2009 | Semper Fi | 2010 |
| For the Motherland | 2011 | ||
| Their Finest Hour | 2012 | ||
| Victoria II | 2010 | A House Divided | 2012 |
| Heart of Darkness | 2013 | ||
| Sengoku | 2011 | — | |
| Crusader Kings II | 2012 | Sword of Islam | 2012 |
| Legacy of Rome | |||
| Sunset Invasion | |||
| The Republic | 2013 | ||
| The Old Gods | |||
| Sons of Abraham | |||
| Rajas of India | 2014 | ||
| Charlemagne | |||
| Way of Life | |||
| Horse Lords | 2015 | ||
| Conclave | 2016 | ||
| The Reaper's Due | |||
| Monks and Mystics | 2017 | ||
| Jade Dragon | |||
| Holy Fury | 2018 | ||
| March of the Eagles | 2013 | — | |
| Europa Universalis IV | 2013 | Conquest of Paradise | 2014 |
| Wealth of Nations | |||
| Res Publica | |||
| Art of War | |||
| El Dorado | 2015 | ||
| Common Sense | |||
| The Cossacks | |||
| Mare Nostrum | 2016 | ||
| Rights of Man | |||
| Mandate of Heaven | 2017 | ||
| Third Rome | |||
| Cradle of Civilization | |||
| Rule Britannia | 2018 | ||
| Dharma | |||
| Golden Century | |||
| Emperor | 2020 | ||
| Leviathan | 2021 | ||
| Origins | |||
| Lions of the North | 2022 | ||
| Domination | 2023 | ||
| King of Kings | |||
| Winds of Change | 2024 | ||
| Stellaris | 2016 | Leviathans | 2016 |
| Utopia | 2017 | ||
| Synthetic Dawn | |||
| Apocalypse | 2018 | ||
| Distant Stars | |||
| MegaCorp | |||
| Ancient Relics | 2019 | ||
| Federations | 2020 | ||
| Nemesis | 2021 | ||
| Overlord | 2022 | ||
| First Contact | 2023 | ||
| Galactic Paragons | |||
| Astral Planes | |||
| The Machine Age | 2024 | ||
| Cosmic Storms | |||
| Grand Archive | |||
| Hearts of Iron IV | 2016 | Together for Victory | 2016 |
| Death or Dishonor | 2017 | ||
| Waking the Tiger | 2018 | ||
| Man the Guns | 2019 | ||
| La Résistance | 2020 | ||
| Battle for the Bosporus | |||
| No Step Back | 2021 | ||
| By Blood Alone | 2022 | ||
| Arms Against Tyranny | 2023 | ||
| Trial of Allegiance | 2024 | ||
| Götterdämmerung | |||
| Graveyard of Empires | 2025 | ||
| Imperator: Rome | 2019 | The Punic Wars | 2019 |
| Magna Graecia | 2020 | ||
| Heirs of Alexander | 2021 | ||
| Crusader Kings III | 2020 | Northern Lords | 2021 |
| Royal Court | 2022 | ||
| Fate of Iberia | |||
| Tours and Tournaments | 2023 | ||
| Legacy of Persia | |||
| Legends of the Dead | 2024 | ||
| Roads to Power | |||
| Victoria 3 | 2022 | Voice of the People | 2023 |
| Colossus of the South | |||
| Sphere of Influence | 2024 | ||
| Pivot of Empire |
References
- ^ "Update of the organization at PDS". Paradox Interactive Forums. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- ^ "Update of the organization at PDS". Paradox Interactive Forums. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- ^ Smith, Graham (1 May 2021). "Paradox Development Studio has "split into three distinct studios", and none are working on Imperator: Rome". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
- ^ "Update of the organization at PDS". Paradox Interactive Forums. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- ^ "GDC Vault - Blurring the Line Between Community & Studio". GDC Vault. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
- ^ Dickle, Mark; Woodsworth, John (12 November 2019). "The History of Clausewitz | PDXCON2019". YouTube. Archived from the original on 15 October 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
- ^ Susana (25 April 2008). "Free engine for gamers released!". Paradox Interactive Forums. Archived from the original on 15 October 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
- ^ "Europa Engine". Indie DB. 13 March 2000. Archived from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
- ^ Andersson, Johan (18 April 2008). "License the Europa Engine, and get your work published on Gamersgate". Paradox Interactive Forums. Archived from the original on 15 October 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
- ^ Savage, Phil (21 August 2015). "Stellaris: how Paradox plan to make an infinite grand strategy". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
- ^ Brown, Fraser (14 October 2018). "The engine behind Paradox Development Studio's future games". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
- ^ Horti, Samuel (14 October 2018). "Future Paradox games will be easier to mod thanks to engine upgrade". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
- ^ Publishing Development Studio Jobs Contact Internships (30 April 2013). "Development Studio - Paradox Interactive". Paradoxplaza.com. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2013.