The Wester Front
04/14/2011

What's Next?

Thoughts following a 1000%+ growth over the past seven years.

When I look back at what we have done the past seven years it is easy to feel that it's all been quite the accomplishment. Growing by 1000%+ in terms of gross revenue – even if we started with a rather small number – is quite overwhelming for most companies, and we are a totally different company today compared to 2003-2004. Mostly this is for the better.

The growth has given little time for contemplating times past, which is typically a good thing. Instead of sitting around and hugging ourselves in the corner in appreciation of what we’ve done, we have set the aim higher for the years to come. Growing also means new challenges for a company like Paradox; we have always valued communication with gamers and emphasized the accessibility of our employees as something that makes us if not unique, then at least places us among a minority of companies in the Internet age.

I’m sometimes approached by gamers who worry about Paradox getting too far away from its roots and therefore I’d like to explain how I see the company going forward, some things we will do and some things we will avoid.

Will do:

  • Continue to publish and develop challenging games.
  • Develop tools and online services so our gamers can more easily access our games and communicate with each other and Paradox.
  • Be as accessible as we can to discuss our games and get direct feedback from gamers.
  • Use our increased resources to release more polished games in the future.

Will not do:

  • Rush headfirst into the next “gold mine” of gaming, e.g. “Social Gaming” or equivalent.
  • Isolate ourselves from the community.
  • Overpromise and under-deliver.

There are of course many gamers who would never have had the chance to get acquainted with Paradox games had we not experienced this kind of growth over the years, and it makes us all happy thinking of the new gamers we have reached. 
During the coming period, more than ever, we need your feedback; are we on the right track, do we need more strategy games in the market, and is there room for another tower defense game? Those are the kind of things we want to discuss in the coming year.

Join in!

Fred