The Swedish publisher Paradox Interactive is known as the developer of great strategy games. However, with their latest project, the strategy geniuses have to take a defeat. The Lamplighters League has only been available for a week, but the publisher already knows it won’t cover the production costs.
What is The Lamplighters League?
- You form a team of several outsiders and outlaws to take on nasty henchmen
- The fun begins even before the actual round: We can sneak around with the characters, perfectly position them, and kill enemies in advance
- The game world is inspired by the 1930s and leads to deserts, jungles, and shipyards
The game has a positive rating of 73 percent on Steam. Fans are thrilled by the setting and visuals, and the game is fun thanks to its tactical XCOM style. Also, on Metacritic the title can settle at a score of 75 points.
Despite the rather positive rating, The Lamplighters League is a financial disaster for the publisher. In a statement Paradox Interactive announced that it made a revenue forecast and found that the costs of around 28 million euros cannot be recouped.
The impact on the profit for the fourth quarter is estimated at -21.5 million euros. This means that the profit generated in the fourth quarter will be reduced by 21.5 million euros. Paradox states that this would be a “great disappointment.”
The Lamplighters League looked promising in initial images:
Paradox sees the reason for the failure there
Why did The Lamplighters League fail? According to Paradox Interactive, the game had many strengths and was able to achieve a “positive player count.” However, this only applied to free subscription services, as the title was included in the Game Pass.
The “commercial reception” was too weak, which means not enough copies could be sold. Paradox admits that game projects are inherently risky, but at the end of the day, the team “did not deliver the performance it should have”:
That’s painful, but it makes us even more eager to roll up our sleeves and get better.
Fredrik Wester, CEO at Paradox Interactive
Paradox Interactive is therefore confident that the weak sales figures will not be a setback for the company but will strengthen it instead.
It was already evident beforehand that the title was not marketed optimally. Paradox tried to promote The Lamplighters League via Twitch. However, the gameplay is not suitable for streaming on Twitch due to its long rounds.
This only created a short hype, but in the long run, this type of advertising was not worthwhile.
Paradox Interactive has several irons in the fire with which they could recoup the costs. These include Life By You, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, and Cities: Skylines II.
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