Interview: Frederik Wester | CEO, Paradox Interactive

Publisher Paradox Interactive has steadily grown in popularity over the years. Last year, the company was even present on major stages at press conferences for various game conventions. Some of their portfolio is seeing an expanding range of fans cling to games like Crusader Kings II, but also Magicka or War of the Vikings. CEO Frederik Wester of Paradox was able to answer some questions we had about their projects and future plans.

Ron: Competition in the gaming industry has reached a massive scale, when both major companies and indie developers want a piece of the pie. Where does Paradox Interactive stand on this regard?

Fredrik Wester: I would count Paradox as more an Indie Company than being close to the major players. First of all, we’re still controlled by people running the company. Secondly we focus to be niche and go for a deep gameplay experience rather than going for the mainstream.  The competition in the market is tougher than ever and that’s where we see a winning formula in dominating the niche.

Ron: Hollowpoint is your first game for the current generation console, PS4. How is your experience so far with shifting direction towards console from PC? How frequently are we going to see console game announcements from you if Hollowpoint breaks through?

Fredrik Wester: I wouldn’t say that we’re shifting focus, but Hollowpoint is definitely a step away from what we’re usually doing. At  the same time, it shares a lot of the same core pillars that we see in many other Paradox games, such as hardcore gameplay and lots of replayability. Our experience so far with the PS4 has been really positive, with both Magicka 2 and Hollowpoint releasing for the PS4 this year, it’s going to be really exciting.

Ron: Is Cities: Skylines is the answer to the past iterations of Cities In Motion? It’s a very sophisticated genre to work with, while only a handful of games have actually seen the light of day over the past years. How hopeful are you about Cities: Skylines?

Fredrik Wester: Cities Skylines is built on the solid foundation of the Cities in Motion series, just taking it in a new direction with hands-on city building. My hopes for Cities Skylines is first and foremost that we can find a fan base that appreciates what we are trying to do and will follow us during the long-term development plan that we have set for the game.

Ron: We haven’t seen or read enough about Cities: Skylines. Tell us what makes this game special. What are we going to be up for?

Fredrik Wester: A lot of people, like myself, are already familiar with the city building genre through other games. What I have found to be one of the most enjoyable details about Cities Skylines myself is the possibility to add districts and different policies for different parts of the city. It gives a great flavor and the feeling that you’re really in charge of building your own city.

Ron: How great is Salem doing? Did it reach the crowd you predicted before launch? Have there been development problems that made it harder to squash bugs or to release confidently with a full product? It doesn’t look like we’re seeing a lot of Salem right now.

Fredrik Wester: We sold back Salem to the original developers a while ago, since it didn’t perform as we had hoped. We haven’t worked on the game in over 2 years, but I see updates from the original developers every now and then, though I don’t know any of the details.

Ron: Europa Universalis IV is possibly the best creation of Paradox, not to mention it is the highest rated game on NoobFeed, so far. But we strategy lovers know that this game took you years to come up with, compacting ideas from other strategy games from your bag. How far are you going to push this sequel?

Fredrik Wester: We will continue to work on Europa Universalis IV for as long as we feel that we can add more interesting content and people still are interested in playing the game. We have gotten a lot of positive feedback on the expansions released so far, so hopefully we’ll continue to develop the game for many years to come.

Ron: Crusader Kings II is yet another success of Paradox. Is there any chance of CKII being inspired by Knight of Honor?

Fredrik Wester: The first Crusader Kings game came out in 2004, which is actually before Knights of Honor, but of course we tend to be influenced by a lot of different games. The first Crusader Kings didn’t perform that well for us, mostly due to the product being buggy, but the core gameplay was really appreciated. When we decided to make a sequel, we also decided to put a lot of effort into making it a great game.

Ron: Knights of Honor, a game developed Black Sea Studios while Paradox Interactive was one of its publishers, did well back in 2001. As one of the top strategy game studios, why haven't you considered a remake or a possible sequel yet?

Fredrik Wester: If I remember correctly, the game was published 2004-2005. We have been interested in making a sequel, but unfortunately we do not own the intellectual property rights for the game.

Ron: Paradox Connect. Why did you cancel the project? Did it turn out to be a much larger project than you initially predicted?

Fredrik Wester: Paradox Connect has actually not been cancelled, but is today a part of a bigger project called Pops (Paradox online publishing services), which has a team internally working with software and services to support our games. We have over 2 million registered customers to our different services so the operation is growing.

Ron: At NoobFeed, we’ve always been a huge fan of Paradox Interactive games; covering news and publishing reviews. Anything you’d like to say to your fans here?

Fredrik Wester: We really appreciate the connection that we have with our fans and are now working towards being even more transparent in our relationship with people who play our games. We get a lot of influence and great feedback from gamers, so please keep posting on our forums, eddit, the Steam community and other places where we try as good as we can to answer your questions.

Ron: What does Paradox Interactive have in its bag for 2015? Pillars of Eternity is a big project in collaboration with Obsidian Entertainment that’s coming up. Can we expect more of these things in the future?

Fredrik Wester: 2015 is our biggest year ever and we are really looking forward to release a lot of great games. Starting with Cities: Skylines and Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity and later following up with Hollowpoint, Magicka 2 and Hearts of Iron IV is a dream line-up for us. We also have a handful of games that are yet to be announced and I think we’ll have quite a few people who will be really excited when they hear what we’re working on. Of course, we’ll also continue to update and release things for Crusader Kings II and Europa Universalis IV. Speaking strictly about what to expect from our relationship with Obsidian, it has been a great cooperation so far and we hope to build a long-term relationship between our companies over time.

 

A big thanks to Fredrik Wester for taking the time to talk with us. We look forward to hearing about your upcoming projects and wish you continued success with Paradox Interactive.

Keep up with Fredrik Wester on Paradox Interactive's website, give him a like on Facebook and follow on Twitter and YouTube.

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed
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