Victoria 3's first major expansion is getting punted back by 2 months so Paradox doesn't repeat the mistake of EU4's disastrous Leviathan release

An octopus spreads ink across a map in the trailer for Victoria 3's Sphere of Influence DLC.
(Image credit: Paradox)

Victoria 3, Paradox's game about making Karl Marx president or something, is due to get its first major expansion soon. It's called Sphere of Influence, and it promises to amp up Vicky's diplomatic aspects by focusing on regional interests, entanglements in foreign economies, and letting your nation's myriad interest groups form lobbies to agitate for change.

In other words, more political headaches than ever before, which is frankly just what I come to Victoria 3 for. But alas, Paradox has delayed the expansion. Where it was previously scheduled to come out on May 6, the studio is pushing things all the way back to June 24, a delay of just under two months. That also affects the release of the free patch that will accompany the update.

"While we are happy with the features on offer in 1.7/Sphere of Influence," says Victoria 3 game director Martin Anward, "we simply do not believe that sticking to the original release date will allow us to deliver those features in a polished and balanced state." Turns out, Sphere of Influence is in need of some major ironing before release, and the DLC's delay is to give Paradox the time "for bug fixing and polish."

"Both update 1.7 and Sphere of Influence contain several fundamental changes to how the game functions," says Anward, "particularly in the form of the Building Ownership Revision and Power Blocs." Those mega changes have caused mega problems, and Paradox would rather not foul up the release with "excessive bugginess, crashes or general lack of polish."

Which, to my mind, means one of two things: Either Paradox is tightening its standards when it comes to DLC releases, or the bugs that Sphere of Influence are causing are almost apocalyptically bad. Fans of the studio's games are pretty used to DLCs coming in hot, bringing all sorts of bugs with them at the same time as bringing in new features. 

The most recent—and dramatic—instance of that which I can recall is Leviathan for Europa Universalis 4, which was so disastrously buggy following its 2021 release that it's still got a 10% "Overwhelmingly Negative" rating on Steam (although not all of that is down to bugs, some folks just don't like the changes).

So, hey, I say take all the time you need, Paradox. I'd certainly welcome smoother DLC releases, and Victoria 3 in particular could do with an expansion that knocks it out of the park in the community's eyes. We rather liked the base game—scoring it 84% in our Victoria 3 review—but it's still at a "Mixed" rating per the Steam reviews. If its first major expansion can come out with a bang, that'd be just what the game needs to win over the hearts of fans.

Joshua Wolens
News Writer

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

Read more
Civilization 7 leader image
Civilization 7's first in-game event postponed so Firaxis can 'prioritize quality-of-life improvements'
Cities: Skylines 2 screenshot - street level at night
Cities: Skylines 2's asset editor remains a distant dream: Colossal Order is still working on it but says it's 'proven more technically challenging than initially anticipated'
People swimming in a pool and lying on floats
Planet Coaster 2 isn't the financial success that Frontier needed, according to a report, which means there's more pressure on Jurassic World Evolution 3 to bring in the big bucks
A citizen of a city
A lot is going on for Cities: Skylines' 10th anniversary—from freebies to new creator packs—but there's still a big ol' elephant in the room
Mark Darrah
BioWare veteran says a big delay is better than lots of little ones, because sometimes you just gotta 'burn it down and take the other fork in the road'
Broken Lords faction
Endless Legend 2, the sequel to Amplitude's sublime 4X, is finally coming, and it's fully leaning into the joy of exploration: 'It is a feeling that will stick with you until the end'
Latest in Strategy
Tzarina Katarin Bokha, the Ice Queen of Kislev
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
Civilization 7 Great Britain - Modern Civ art (via YouTube)
As Civilization 7 struggles to keep up with Civ 5 player counts, a new patch is coming tomorrow with still more UI changes and gameplay tweaks
Battle Brothers
Nearly 2 years after its last update, the excellent Battle Brothers gets 'a bucket load of fixes' and free new content
King wielding his axe against would-be assassins in Norland.
Medieval colony sim Norland is getting a 'damn big update' that completely overhauls the game's mechanics: 'We're rolling out some radical changes to the core gameplay'
Age of Empires 2
Former Age of Empires 2 dev claims Microsoft demanded its first expansion should have a Korean faction, because 'StarCraft sold 3 million copies in Korea'
Endless Legend 2 Kin faction reveal
It's turtle time: Endless Legend 2's first faction is the fortification-loving Kin of Sheredyn
Latest in News
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Otter AI Meeting Agent
As if your work meetings weren't already fun enough, now Otter has a new all-hearing AI agent that remembers everything anyone has said and can join in the discussion
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest
As layoffs and studio closures continue to deathroll the western AAA industry, analyst points out 5 of 8 major Japanese companies hit all-time share prices this year
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Ogryn
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide adds a psychic horde murderzone mode and makes Ogryns even smashier
A woman wearing a VR headset with dramatic, colourful lighting across the background
'World’s smallest LEDs' could lead to accurately lit screens with 127,000 pixels per inch and much more immersive VR
The NES themed 8BitDo Retro mechanical gaming keyboard on a blue background
I love the 8BitDo Retro C64 keyboard but I'd pick its cheaper NES-themed model near its lowest price ever during Amazon's Big Spring Sale