The strategy game Hearts of Iron IV (Steam) is planning a new expansion. Once again, players will be able to rewrite world history. The new DLC focuses on Iran, Iraq, India, and Afghanistan and is set to be released in early March 2025. However, the population of one country is already having big problems with this: Chinese people are storming against the change.
What is Hearts of Iron IV about? Hearts of Iron IV originally started as a simulation of World War II. The player can take control of any country in the world in the years 1936 or 1939 and rewrite history.
Hearts of Iron IV was released in 2016 but is now more popular on Steam than ever before. With a Germany DLC in November 2024, developer Paradox reached new record player numbers on Steam.
The ongoing success of the strategy game is due to the fact that Hearts of Iron IV has evolved over the past 8 years into a “what if?” simulator. New expansions have introduced various scenarios where countries took “non-historical paths.” How would the world have developed if fascists had not come to power in Germany, but democrats or if the monarchy had survived? How would the world have turned out if Nazi Germany had conquered the USA?
For many players, such alternative history paths are exciting. But with a new expansion, Paradox is now angering some proud players in China.
New expansion focuses on Iran, India, Iraq, Afghanistan
This is the new expansion: Paradox introduced the expansion “Graveyard of Empires” a few days ago (via Steam). The expansion focuses on Iran, India, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
The package is set to be released on March 4, 2025, and is currently listed on Steam for €37. However, this is likely a display error from Steam and corresponds to the price of the season pass, not just the new expansion.
Western players criticize the price and greed
Here was the criticism: The criticism expressed in English towards the DLC was something like:
- The DLC is too expensive for a region that has nothing to do with World War II.
- One player was horrified that Iran became stronger than Turkey, which was unacceptable.
- Others were upset about “unrealistic cartoon paths” for the region.
Review-Bombing from China
This was the criticism from China: However, Paradox apparently faced real trouble with Chinese players who feel their national pride is hurt by the announcement. Especially new ahistorical paths for India are a thorn in their side.
Because one option for India is now to take an alternative historical path by transforming India into “The Empire of the Silk Road.” And in the eyes of the Chinese, this is absolutely unacceptable. The “Silk Road” is historically closely tied to China. Even a new project of the party, the “Belt and Road Initiative,” has been in the works since 2013.
Moreover, in this alternative history, India also controlled Tibet – a very sensitive issue for the Chinese. For the past 4 days, there has been a flood of negative reviews for Hearts of Iron on Steam.
A player with 3,000 hours settles the score with Paradox
This is how the anger is expressed: A negative review on Steam with 600 likes, written in Chinese (via Steam), comes from a player with 2,700 hours. He says he has been playing since 2019 and has always supported Paradox. Even when there were mistakes, he swallowed the criticism because Hearts of Iron IV is a magical game, and he was willing to overlook some issues. But now it seems he has reached his limit.
The player accuses Paradox of sawing off the branch they are sitting on. Or, as he puts it, spitting into the pot they eat from. He had hoped that China was such a large market that Paradox would provide the Middle Kingdom with more content and a “powerful player experience.”
But now they are associating India with the Silk Road and also linking India to Shanghai. That’s just not acceptable. Apparently, for him, the colonial power that Britain had over China is still a touchy subject.
The player then gets personal: Since the season pass cannot be refunded, it all feels like a “rape” of the Chinese players. Just because Sweden and India have a high rape rate does not mean that one can simply assault the player experience of players.
The player then seems to threaten Paradox, reminding them not to forget who they are. Chinese companies always hold 5% of their company.
Another player with 1,700 hours writes in his Chinese review: He knows that the USA and Europe are “anti-China,” but even anti-Chinese players have a brain and need to see what nonsense this all is. He repeatedly mentions that Paradox has awakened the “tiger” with the DLC. He, for his part, will not buy any more products from Paradox and is very disappointed, given that Paradox lives in the “Empire of the Silk Road.”
What lies behind it: In the West, “Hearts of Iron IV” is not taken seriously and is rather seen as a meme generator. Even highly sensitive topics, such as the “Germany DLC,” were considered with a smile. In China, however, it seems that they have a completely different view of the game and its implications.
The mood surrounding Hearts of Iron IV seems to be quite charged. In comparison, the criticism of the “Germany DLC” for Hearts of Iron IV from our side was very mild: Expert refuses to discuss the Germany DLC of a war game on Steam
