Paradox taking "major step" with online title

PC games publisher Paradox Interactive - best know for its high strategy games franchises, including Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron and Victoria - has announced that it is to release its first online title, Dreamlords: Resurrection.

The game will be a mix of MMO and real-time strategy elements and is the sequel to Dreamlords, with development work currently underway by Lockpick Entertainment, and is a "major step" for the publisher, business development exec Tom Soderlund told GamesIndustry.biz.

"We considered the migration to digital game distribution a big step, and this is even bigger," he explained. "But we're taking it little by little, growing the business organically. "And online games is a new business within Paradox Interactive, our normal games publishing will remain as important as it has been in the past.

He admitted that the move would signify higher persistent costs, but underlined that the company was taking a cautious approach.

"Potentially yes, but hopefully more revenues as well," he said. "We try to mitigate the risk by getting games out relatively early in the process, and then listen to our gamers, iterate and improve as we go along."

The news, revealed today at Gamescom in Cologne, also included the announcement of a layer of new social features to the publisher's games - called Paradox Connect - which will include the introduction of achievements and social network linking.

"With severe risk of sounding like a cliché, the community is of course crucial to Paradox - and, in fact, it has been for quite a while," explained Soderlund of the move. "The Paradox forum launched in late 1999, now has over 220,000 users and is a very active discussion place for our audience and our development teams. The Paradox forum has a major impact on product and business decisions that we do.

"With Facebook and Twitter, a second community for Paradox games has risen - and this audience does not fully overlap with the Paradox forum. Initially the social networking features includes displaying your Gamer Card on your Facebook page, and messaging your current status and score on Facebook and Twitter.

"This integration will definitely be explored more in the future," he added.

It is hoped that the achievements system, meanwhile, will encourage users to "explore features and aspects of our games that they might have missed otherwise," following in the footsteps of Blizzard, for whom World of Warcraft achievements has had a massive impact.

But Soderlund added that they want to be careful with the implementation that it's not just about players needing to "grind away gathering points".

"We instruct our game developers to create achievements that rewards exploration and trying new things in the game."

Specific dates for the launches of Dreamlords: Resurrection and Paradox Connect were not disclosed.