Europa Universalis 4 release window confirmed, demo planned for later this week

Paradox's in-house strategies are known for their size and complexity. Their official announcements about release times and demo plans, however? Those can be unceremoniously sparse. The latest Europa Universalis 4 dev update, aptly titled "a very small development diary", confirms the game's planned launch time, and teases the possibility of a pre-release demo.

"The game will go live at 9AM EST, which is about 15.00 in the afternoon Swedish time. (on the 13th of August)," writes Paradox Studio Manager Johan Andersson. That's 2pm BST.

"Demo will be released at the end of this week if the Gods smile upon us."

Hopefully, the Gods do. Paradox picked up a lot of fans with Crusader Kings 2 - a fact they're all too happy to capitalise on with the announcement of CK2 to EU4 save converter. But despite the similarities present through the engine and world map, it's a very different type of strategy. It's good that the studio plan to let potential fans give it a shot before the game comes out.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.