Seinfelda Universalis?
Glad to see Wester didn’t cancel Paradox’s Sims competitor. :)
Did Ebba try to branch into other genres? Paradox cancels several unannounced projects amid ongoing company shakeup | GamesIndustry.biz
Nothing too interesting/particular. Under Ebba there was a larger exploration regarding expanding the Paradox brand by accessing adjacent genres, nothing too dissimilar from the WoD (RPG) and Triumph Studios (4X) acquisitions that were done under Fred.
Hard to imagine anyone thinking this is even remotely OK.
Yikes.
The PC Gamer recount of the Swedish press article is a bit more damning.
One incident cited in the report includes the hiring of a senior manager with a reputation for “unwelcome approaches and harassment” at his previous studio. A former employee of that studio, who resigned over the harassment she faced, was granted a settlement of nearly 270,000 Swedish kroner ($30,700) in 2016, just months before the manager was hired at Paradox. He maintained “a leading role” there until two months ago, according to the report.
“He had too much physical contact with us female employees,” a former employee of that studio said. “A hand on the lower back or very close hugs, where he drilled his face into one’s throat. [There] were several girls who talked about it.”
I remain astounded that the HR department of a Scandinavian company thought this would end well in a country this heavily unionized.
We can’t really control what people think. However, I really don’t want to play a game designed by someone who is so stupid to say such in thing.
https://twitter.com/TheWesterFront/status/1460538479826419712
Comments by the CEO
Tough quarter where we pave the road ahead
This report is a disappointment, we underperform on several important key figures as well as the quality standard we’ve set for our products, which is something we have identified and are working hard to improve. Profit before tax of SEK -45 million is largely driven by non-recurring costs linked to write-downs of cancelled projects. However, we have also had delays in our game development which have led to too few releases of new content for our core games. In a longer perspective, the quarter’s results are an effect of investments in externally developed projects where we must improve at controlling game vision, quality and progress. We have also seen too low velocity in our internally developed projects. In these respects we have been too passive, something we are now rectifying.
My initial time back as the CEO of Paradox Interactive has therefore been characterized by high activity and a great expectation on the time ahead of us. We continue to build forward momentum from the company’s strong core business, enthusiastic player base and solid fundamentals. We have chiseled a straight line forward for leveraging and developing Paradox’s strengths and have ground down many irregularities.
We can and will perform far better. In the short term we have taken steps forward to become a smarter and sharper game developer and publisher. Our pipeline is stronger after the quarter, we have freed up resources and begun to phase them into more promising projects and the work to refocus our energy to activities with greater revenue potential is in full swing. We put a lot of effort into ensuring that we henceforth have the right level of quality on all content we release. Going forward, we have a stronger framework for how we work with and set targets for the quality of games and expansions and have created a clearer ownership of game quality where decisions are made closer to game development.
With the changes above behind us we can continue the implementation of our strategic direction for how we will invest in, develop and publish games in the future. My and the management team’s focus is on maximizing and developing a few strong segments and franchises, rather than placing several new big flags in unexplored territories. So that our strengths in the strategy and management segments come to the fore.
One effect of this is that our internal development will take precedence in future investments. At the same time, we will take a more conservative stance on external development, unless we have a strong and proven relationship with the studio in question. To explore more and new revenue streams is still important and we will continue to make forays into new areas where we believe there is potential for success. However, they will be monetarily smaller, faster in process, and more focused in scope.
In the end, Paradox exists to create games that our fans love to play and explore. All the work we do is with this in mind; to create games and experiences that our players want and can continue to come back to. Then we create the revenues that make it possible to continue to grow and develop.
Our clear focus, a strong pipeline with 15 new games and even more content for our core games makes me convinced that Paradox has the best to come. I look forward to leading the work ahead.
Sure. We all saw that.
Uh oh.
Kudos for delivering a clear, unequivocal message that is free of a lot of the corporate jargon that often plagues these type of releases.
Hah, yeah, I’m sure morale is soaring.
What is it about businessbro buzzwords that gets me grinding my teeth? Every time I read or hear it I start imagining punching the guy in the face.
Just means you have a functioning soul, brother.
That’s called “synergy”.
Come on. You guys don’t even appreciate the CEO’s jokes!
In a live Q&A that followed the release of Paradox’s Q3 interim report (as spotted by PC Gamer), CFO Alexander Bricca explained, “We prefer to give the studio a situation where they can focus fully on the game development and not having to address fans reaching out to them. So therefore we have so far not disclosed the name of the studio and we are very happy to keep it that way for still some time.”
Despite the secrecy, Paradox says the new developer is “doing quite well and we are happy with the progress of the project now”. Unsurprisingly, however, the turmoil surrounding the development of Bloodlines 2 has had a dramatic impact on its launch timeline. Whereas Paradox was initially aiming to ship the game this year before booting Hardsuit off the project, it now says there is “still quite some time before we can start to talk about release dates.”
After a seeing a few rumors on the net, I followed-up with a dev friend based in Brighton who said The Chinese Room, the walking-sim studio that all but shut down back in 2017 before being bought by Sumo Digital, is the unannounced team working on Bloodlines 2. It sounds like a shocking fit but maybe, given they’re essentially a new team, we shouldn’t expect any of their future games to resemble their previous work.