14 DAY TRIAL // The leading executive of Paradox Interactive, a niche publisher hailing from Sweden, has stated that the PC, social and mobile games will continue to increase their status in the future just as the world of traditional retail based console gaming declines and disappears.
Speaking to the audience at the Paradox Interactive digital convention Fredrik Wester, who is the Chief Executive Officer at Paradox Interactive, has stated, “The next generation of console hardware will probably be the last. I’d be surprised if we see another generation after that.”
The executive believes that the digital space is the fastest growing part of the video game industry, citing an increase of 97 percent for Paradox Interactive when it comes to revenue derived from digital offerings in 2011, compared to just 1.5% during 2006.
When it comes to profit Paradox Interactive has announced that in 2011 it has managed to increase it’s value by 250 percent, an impressive increase when compared to the 75% it managed in 2010.
Paradox Interactive has been mostly known for franchises like Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron, which are classified as being grand strategy, which allow gamers to control nations during important periods in history, like the Middle Age and World War II.
Paradox Interactive also launched the GamersGate digital distribution service, which has since then became a separate commercial entity, and sells most of its games through it, with little or no physical presence for the main releases and a number of expansions and content packs that can only be obtained digitally.
The company has also announced that they are working on two completely new video games: A Game of Dwarves, which seems to be a mix of strategy and role playing game with a theme taken directly from Dwarf Fortress, and Napoleon’s Campaign II, a more traditional grand strategy series focusing on the French general.