At first glance, we can say that the idea of a turn-based tactical RPG like XCOM set in a world reminiscent of Indiana Jones and The Mummy didn’t sound bad. So much so that Paradox Interactive wanted to invest 28 million dollars in its development. However, the release of The Lamplighters League ended in disaster, with many of its creators being laid off. What happened?
On this topic, colleagues from GameStar asked the kings of strategy, finding an answer that is shaping the recent steps of the creators of hits like Hearts of Iron IV or Crusader Kings III.
Mattias Lilja, deputy general manager of Paradox Interactive, describes in his conversation with the sister website of 3DJuegos that The Lamplighters League was a special case. It did not fail due to quality issues, as they believed it was a title worth it, but because they failed to generate interest from the audience for its purchase. Lilja admits that the marketing department of both Paradox Interactive and Harebrained Schemes, their development team, did not know how to promote it effectively.
From now on they will focus on what they do best
Paradox Interactive has made a career in the strategy genre, and here they were inexperienced. They strayed too far from their competencies and obviously did not know how to make a game like this successful. Perhaps that is why from now on they are focusing on what they do best. In fact, we recently learned that they are not interested in developing a new Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, whether it becomes a hit or another failure. Let’s hope it’s the former.
As noted by colleagues from GameStar, Paradox Interactive is not currently having the best time after several commercial and internal missteps. Life by You, which promised to be an alternative to The Sims, was canceled, while Cities: Skylines 2 is receiving criticism for its current state.
At the same time, at Harebrained Schemes, they had to let go of 80% of the staff after the release of The Lamplighters League a year ago. The video game was launched for PC, Xbox Series X|S and Game Pass, with a peak activity on Steam of only 773 users, slightly over fifty if we look at the graph in recent weeks. It also didn’t receive positive reviews in the store.
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