Victoria 3 is confirmed to have become one of Paradox's most successful releases yet. Grand strategy games haven't historically been known for their widespread success. But over the years what was once a very exclusive niche has grown into a thriving community, with Paradox at the heart of it. That success has allowed Paradox to grow increasingly ambitious with its games. Victoria 3 has shown that Paradox's investment continues to bear fruit.
Victoria 3 officially launched on October 25 and received generally positive review scores. It has been 12 years since the release of Victoria 2 and while the sequel is based heavily on past games in the series, it has also intuitively iterated on key features to create a more modern grand strategy experience. That includes building on Victoria 2's Crisis System to create Victoria 3's Diplomatic Plays, and other similar steps forward with regard to Victoria 3's politically-heavy gameplay.
Grand strategy fans appear to appreciate the direction Paradox has taken Victoria in the new game. In a message shared on Twitter, Paradox confirmed that Victoria 3 has sold over 500,000 copies in the 30 days since the game launched. Paradox goes so far as to say Victoria 3 is one of its most successful games ever.
Since Paradox doesn't share sales information for all of its games consistently, it's unclear where Victoria 3 fits exactly. What is clear is why Paradox described Victoria 3 as "one of" its most successful games and not the most successful. At the very least, Crusader Kings 3's release in 2020 is confirmed to have sold over a million copies during its 30 days of availability. Crusader Kings is Paradox's most popular series. But it's worth acknowledging that Victoria 3, from a much less well-known series, managing half of Crusader Kings 3's launch sales is very impressive.
In addition to confirming Victoria 3's 500,000 launch sales, Paradox also shared some other information from the game. For example, Victoria 3 players have managed over 609,318 days of total playtime, which with 500,000 players should make clear how dedicated grand strategy players are to Paradox's releases. Other statistics include over 380,335 countries formed, 187 million technologies researches, and 126,263 Suez Canals constructed.
With such a healthy amount of launch sales, Paradox may decide to give Victoria 3 robust post-launch support. The current Victoria 3 post-launch roadmap has teased plans for improved and "more believable" AI, expanded diplomacy systems, and polish for warfare systems. The better Victoria 3 sells, the more post-launch attention it's likely to receive, and the more time Paradox's next grand strategy title will be given for development.
Victoria 3 is available now on PC.