Nothing screams grand strategy like a Paradox game. From creating the ugliest babies in Crusader Kings who go on to become the evilest villains the world has ever seen to fighting the American War of Independence in Europa Universalis and taking down (or playing as) Hitler in Hearts of Iron, we strategy gamers have had it good in recent years - and Victoria 3, the publisher's latest game, has been doing numbers.
In a Twitter post from the Victoria 3 account, the company announced that the game has sold over 500,000 copies since its release a mere month ago. "We want to thank all Victoria 3 players," Paradox says. "With 500k games sold since it's release a little over a month ago, this is one of the most successful Paradox launches ever!"
Players have been getting stuck in to the industrial-age strategy game, playing over 609,000 days of the game according to the image attached to the tweet, which equates to 1,668 years, and there have been over 380,000 countries formed by players during this time.
It's not all good news, despite the statistics showing this to be one of the strongest Paradox launches ever. The replies to the Twitter post are full of fans complaining of myriad issues with the game. "Great, now get the AI to actually build things so the player country isn't the only one growing properly," says one individual. Other complaints include the game crashing roughly every 30 minutes and other game-breaking bugs that are marring their enjoyment of Victoria 3.
Only time will tell whether Victoria 3's success will continue, but Paradox is likely aware of the problems that players are encountering and are hopefully working on fixes. Their games have long tales, and we can expect expansions and DLC to be further down the line.
But, regardless, the success of Victoria 3 is only a good thing for fans of grand strategy in the long-run, as it breathes fresh air into the genre and lets publishers know the audience is still alive and kicking.