Negative Reception of EU4: Leviathan Affects Moods at Paradox Interactive
Former CEO of Paradox Interactive considers fans' behavior on forums toxic. Aggressive comments are supposed to discourage developers who are trying to provide players with the best possible product.
- The former CEO of Paradox Interactive addressed the criticism of the Leviathan DLC for Europa Universalis IV;
- According to him, toxic comments from players negatively affect the work of the studio;
- At the same time, he has nothing against constructive criticism.
This is not a good time for Paradox Interactive. The recent release of the Leviathan DLC for Europa Universalis IV turned out to be a failure, and the company itself underwent a reorganization, through which the development of Imperator: Rome was suspended. Especially the first event met with a very negative reception from fans, who showed their dissatisfaction on Paradox forums. Former CEO and current board director of the company, Fredrik Wester, considers many of the comments as an example of toxic behavior of players.
On Twitter, he addressed the proposal to close the forum and cut off communication with players. Wester confessed that despite the negative response from some fans, direct communication with the audience is very important for the studio.
At the same time, Wester confessed that he partly understands the reaction of players who have expressed their frustration on the forums.
"Also, I recognize misdirected passion when I see it. I know you want us to make great products and when we fail to meet expectations it comes out in frustrated messages."
In his posts, Wester pointed out that such reactions do not help developers fix their mistakes. According to him, aggressive criticism, in which players demand the dismissal of individual developers, does not affect the mood in the team in a good way. At the same time, he confessed that he has nothing against constructive comments, which instead of venting on developers, will point out the elements that need improvement.
Some of the players agreed with Wester. However, dissenting voices appeared as well. According to many fans, the only "criticism" that Paradox Interactive expects to receive is tacit approval for releasing underdeveloped content.
"Everytime you release a broken patch since last couple of exapansions. But it has gotten overboard from Leviathan which is unplayable. Shame on you for making excuses rather than apologizing for poor product."
- Robin
"This is not the way you ahve worked for 22 years. Leviathan is over priced low quality content . Next time don't do 40 shitty things do a couple of good things."
- Jeffrey frazer
"Time after time Paradox has released games/dlc that prove to be less than desired, and then spend the next months/years patching them. Either treat your releases as early access or don’t release them until they’re ready."
- Alexandr Almakayev
So it looks like Swedish developers will have to deal with negative comments from players for quite some time yet. This time, the release of the expansion for EU4 caused more controversy than with any previous DLC. How it will affect the studio's work, we'll find out in the near future.
For now, owners of the game must be satisfied with the update, which is to fix many of the critical bugs. However, comments on Steam reveal that one of the main problems, namely the notorious crash in 1504, has not been fixed.
