Haemimont Games has spent the last 25 years knocking out an impressive list of strategy and management romps, including corkers like Tropico 3-5, Surviving Mars and Jagged Alliance 3. It's had a pretty great run, and now it's the latest feather in publisher Paradox Interactive's cap, which just snatched the studio up.
Announced today, Paradox has acquired all shares in Haemimont Games and now wholly owns it. In a press release, the publisher called the acquisition "a further step in Paradox's strategic focus on growing in the management games genre, by building a strong internal capability that complements the Group's current studio organization".
This lines up with Paradox's renewed focus on its core genres. Last year, I dug into the past, present and future of the Swedish publisher, and spoke with Deputy CEO Mattias Lilja and CCO Henrik Fåhraeus about what's been a rough couple of years. There's been the tumultuous development of Bloodlines 2, the troubled launch of Cities: Skylines 2 and the cancellation of Life By You.
"We have solved this problem before," said Lilja, "and then we sort of forgot. But I think essentially the solution is what we did back then. We refocused on the core." He also admitted that Paradox had a habit of releasing games too early and dealing with technical issues after launch. Meanwhile, the success of games like Crusader Kings, Stellaris and Cities: Skylines made it too "overconfident", resulting in risky investments and taking on the types of games it didn't have any experience with.
For Paradox, Haemimont feels like the opposite of a risky investment. Indeed, the studio was responsible for one of Paradox's big wins: Surviving Mars. It strikes me as a good fit, then, and the only thing that's surprising about it is the fact that Paradox used Surviving Mars as a jumping off point for a whole series of (less successful) Surviving games, but didn't get Haemimont to develop them.
I'm interested in seeing what Haemimont does next, then, and if it ends up returning to the series. Though after its impressive handling of Jagged Alliance 3—the first good Jagged Alliance in a long, long time—I'd be just as keen to see it tackle another tactics game. Especially now that Paradox and Harebrained Schemes are no longer together. We'll have to wait and see, since it's yet to announce its first project as a Paradox studio.
"We're delighted to become a part of the Paradox family!" said Gabriel Dobrev, Founder of Haemimont Games. "The cultural fit between our companies is remarkable, and we already feel at home. This partnership empowers us to push the boundaries of our games, delivering deeper and more intense experiences to our players. It also opens new horizons for our team, technology, and creative processes, which we're eager to explore. Expect amazing new games from us!"
