Paradox Interactive, the publisher known for more niche titles like Cities: Skylines, Crusader Kings, and Stellaris, just reported its best financial quarter of all time.
Based in Stockholm, the company reported a 51% increase year-over-year despite having no new games release during that period. This resulted in a total of $222.4 million for the quarter. That said, it did release 16 expansions last year, with six of them coming out in Q4. The company credits Cities, Stellaris, Crusader Kings II, Europa Universalis IV, and Hearts of Iron IV for its big profits last quarter. Otherwise, operating profits hit $86.7 million, up 69% from the previous period.
For the full year of 2018, Paradox reached $813.8 million in revenue - an increase of 39% year over year. Operating profits went up 34% to $339.8 million, as well.
Paradox’s six expansions were Industries for Cities, MegaCorp for Stellaris, Flashpoint for BATTLETECH, Space Race for Surviving Mars, Holy Fury for Crusader Kings II, and Golden Century for Europa Universalis IV. The group also credits the Steam Winter Sale, which ran from December 20 to January 3, for its increased sales. The company also purchased the rights to the Prison Architect IP from Introversion Software.
Ebba Ljungerud, CEO of Paradox, commented on their success:
“We own a strong portfolio of popular games and well-known brands, content that is very attractive to anyone attempting to enter the distribution market. Our strategy continues to focus on broad cooperation with all leading distributors, both in the PC and the console space. At the same time, we remain dedicated to building our own ecosystem of players around Paradox Interactive as the world’s leading publisher of deep, complex gaming experiences of the highest quality.As for 2019, Paradox will release two new titles, Age of Wonders: Planetfall and Imperator: Rome. These in combination with a console edition of Stellaris will hopefully lead to another strong year for the company. They will also be releasing information on other unannounced titles, so fans keep an eye out!
