Paradox Interactive

Lore & Background

Paradox Interactive's origins started with Target Games, a Sweden-based board game company. The video game division spun off into Paradox Entertainment, which selected an image based on the skeleton of a platypus, originally given the scientific name ornithorhynchus paradoxus; the division considered its design philosophy to be 'weird and unique' like the platypus. In 2004, Fredrik Wester and Theodore Bergquist bought out the video games division, retaining the Swedish Paradox Development Studio and all its developers, and formed Paradox Interactive.

Reader's Guide

Paradox is best known for releasing strategy video games, especially historically-themed grand strategy games, and has published strategy games in different settings, as well as games of other genres such as role-playing video games and management simulators. They typically continue development of its games after initial release with the creation of downloadable content, and are also known for creating games that are easy to mod. Outside of video games, Paradox has created board games based on several of its titles, and owns the rights to the tabletop role-playing game series World of Darkness since purchasing White Wolf Publishing in 2015. They hold an annual convention, PDXCON, which has been open to the public since 2017.

Did You Know?

• The company's first title to break 1 million copies sold was Magicka from Arrowhead Game Studios.
• Cities: Skylines, published by Paradox, sold over 12 million copies by June 2022.