Paradox Development Studios is currently undergoing a major reorganization, and that means a lot of projects are lacking in key manpower and support. One of the several tragic falterings is that of the newest Roman history sim. And a lot of people are wondering why this is happening.
Imperator: Rome had a pretty rocky launch, and that’s truly a shame. The game launched with a lot of hype behind it. The legacy and pedigree of Paradox Grand Strategy games built up over the last few years, thanks to all the expertise the studio accrued during that time. The game is plagued by constant criticism since launch, mostly around how the setting feels a bit too lacking in meat on its bones. The history of Rome and Carthage and so many other interesting states is a huge opportunity, one that Paradox seemed to squander. A big part of the problem is that the many factions all feel too similar, with very little mechanical variety between them. This was directly in opposition to all the mechanical variety in other titles like Europa Universalis IV.
“Earlier this year, PDS has split into three distinct studios,” writes Paradox segment and portfolio manager Bevan Davies in a post to the Paradox Forums. “Internally, we call them PDS Green, PDS Red, and PDS Gold. Each team is in charge of both maintaining existing game(s), and developing new games.”
Each of the three teams is dedicated to a certain major game, with other support roles possible. For example, Green is handling Stellaris, and is supported by Paradox Arctic. Team Red got handed development of Crusader Kings III, helmed by Johanna Uddståhl Friberg. They previously headed Paradox Arctic, bringing over lots of experience. The final focus for the studio is on Hearts of Iron IV, headed up by team Gold.
And you might notice that Imperator: Rome is absent from that list. Davis says developers working on Imperator: Rome were needed as “reinforcement” on other projects at Paradox. The 2.0 ‘Marius’ free update was the last major patch for the game. This was deployed earlier this year, and brought a ton of needed QoL improvements and other fixes. The reaction to the patch told PDX that a lot was left to be desired. Though the fixes were nice, a more substantial overhaul and expansion is needed.
Imperator: Rome game director Peter Nicholson also left the company, telling fans that they may return one day.
