Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Paradox’s CEO Fred Wester has revealed the startling growth of Paradox’s digital distribution revenue. I’ll put it in the man’s own words, because not long afterward he himself grew in relation to the number. He’s a giant now, and incapable of understanding numbers. He said.

My own experience of digital distribution is that we made 1.5 percent of our revenue from digital distribution in 2006, while the digital number in 2011 was over 95%.

Blimey! I’m having brainthinks about the numbers. They’re both surprising, and yet if you sit and stare at the desk your PC is on, I’ll bet any discs are starting to look out of place and a bit dusty.
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RPS chum Stephen Totilo met up with Fred Wester from Paradox recently, and they had a little chat. Reader Lasse Bertheussen points out that this little chat contained a brief mention of Syndicate, which is currently being remade by Starbreeze. Here it is:

And down the line? Well, this is how Wester’s mind works: He loved the ruthless isometric tactical classic Syndicate back in the day. He also works in Sweden and is therefore privy to the fact that a neighboring studio is making a new Syndicate for EA and that the game is “more of a like a GTA wannabe than it’s like the original game.” Therefore, he wants Paradox to make its own riff on Syndicate. They don’t have a game design in mind yet, but that’s the dream.

I’m smiling. Are you smiling?

If there was one thing I took away from GDC this year, it was that the “mid-level” publishers are having a good time. Digital distribution seems to be favouring them, and companies such as Paradox are working hard to diversify and deliver unusual games. Paradox’s line up for this year includes a bunch of interesting titles, such as Crusader Kings II, Sword Of The Stars II, and Mount & Blade: Fire & Sword, and they’ve already produced a big management title, with Cities In Motion, and this year’s surprise action RPG hit, with Magicka. Clearly, it was time to catch up with Paradox’s CEO, Fredrik Wester. You can read our conversation below.
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As one of the nerdiest PC game publishers out there, it’s only right that Paradox Interactive and RPS should be well acquainted. Look! Here’s Paradox CEO Fred Wester talking on his new blog, The Wester Front, about why he loves the PC as a platform, with some hard stats as to why it’s growing, not dying. That’s interesting.

Anyway, I caught up with Fred at GamesCom for an excitable chat about the state of PC gaming, DRM, witch doctors, Paradox’s growth and why complex games have fallen from the shop shelves in recent years. It was a good time. Read on after the jump.
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