Hearts of Iron IV was released in June 2016 on Steam. Eight years later, it sets a player record: 93,196 players were logged in simultaneously on Saturday, November 16, 2024. This is due to the new DLC “Twilight of the Gods,” which focuses on Germany. But why is an 8-year-old strategy game performing so well in such a niche?
How do historical strategy games from Paradox perform on Steam? Paradox has four 4x strategy games set in historical contexts, all of which continue to be actively played on Steam years after their release. Each of the games is developed as a games-as-a-service title and regularly receives DLCs and updates:
- The economy-focused Victoria 3 peaked at 70,000 players at its release in October 2022, but now only about 6,000 are online simultaneously on Steam.
- The massive Europa Universalis IV had a peak of 48,000 players six years after its release in June 2020, but even now, more than 10 years after launch, there are still about 14,600 people online simultaneously.
- Crusader Kings 3 with a strong role-playing focus, while often seen as Paradox’s flagship and having the highest player peak of 98,474 players at release, usually has only about 16,000 players online.
- However, the war-focused Hearts of Iron IV has an average of 35,000 players online and just this weekend achieved a new peak of 93,196 players on Steam.
There is also “Imperator: Rome” from Paradox, but this is considered the black sheep of historical simulations and development has been discontinued.
The new DLC for Hearts of Iron IV, Twilight of the Gods, is causing a significant player boom:
Mods, Multiplayer, and Memes Keep Hearts of Iron Fresh
Why is Hearts of Iron so strong? Although Hearts of Iron has been around for 8 years, it apparently appeals to a large group of players over all these years due to its active and creative modding community, a vibrant multiplayer scene, and the lack of alternatives to the scenario.
What started as a “World War II” simulation in its base version in 2016 has evolved for fans into more of a “What if?” power simulation in the 30s, 40s, and 50s thanks to many mods.
And a Germany DLC like “Twilight of the Gods” provides a lot of new content.
In the forums of Paradox’s otherwise history-loving fans, the discussion around Hearts of Iron revolves more around the memes generated by the game than about historical facts. On Reddit , many memes arise:
- One user has found Eva Braun and thinks her stats are overly strong.
- Another user is amused that Werner Heisenberg is in the game, as the scientist provided the name for the hero from Breaking Bad and was mentioned in several iconic scenes (via youtube):
“All good, if you don’t take it too seriously”
How is the DLC Twilight of the Gods received on Steam? The new DLC “Twilight of the Gods” currently has 83% positive reviews on Steam.
One comment states (via steam):
Everything is nice and good if you don’t take the whole thing seriously, because if you do and evaluate this expansion on realism and in the relevant historical context, it would fail spectacularly. The Belgian FN FAL in 1942 and the MEFO issue, which was more of a hindrance than a benefit for Germany, are a few examples that come to mind in this context.
But we can always modify things, so have fun.
In Germany, many have a different perspective on the Germany DLC for Hearts of Iron IV. The German strategy expert and historian Steinwallen has explained why he views the DLC critically and does not want to discuss it in detail on his YouTube channel: Expert Refuses to Discuss the Germany DLC of a War Game on Steam
