Paradox must refocus to rebuild trust and survive, bosses say, after Life By You cancellation

“It is clear that we have made the wrong calls in several projects… and this must change.” That was the message from Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester in the company’s latest financial report in July following a string of high profile failures and project cancellations.

It was a candid statement from the CEO. And yet this level of transparency is what Paradox now says it needs, in order to reassure its community of players and refocus on what it does best: strategy games.

Over the past 12 months, Paradox has been rocked by a stream of development catastrophes. Last October, its strategy game The Lamplighters League was a $22m flop, while a month later it delayed DLC for Cities: Skylines 2 after that game launched with performance issues. Earlier this year, Paradox parted ways with Prison Architect 2 developer Double Eleven after nine years on the series; since continuing development, Paradox then indefinitely delayed the game. And in June, the company suddenly cancelled its Sims-like game Life By You and shut down the studio responsible.

So what exactly went wrong with these projects? And how is Paradox looking to put things right? Eurogamer had the opportunity to speak directly to Mattias Lilja, deputy CEO, and Henrik Fåhraeus, chief creative officer at a press event in London recently in order to find out more.