Paradox Interactive Calls The Lamplighters League Sales “A Big Disappointment”

In a recent press release, Paradox Interactive CEO Fredrik Wester has made a statement discussing the commercial state of their newest title The Lamplighters League, which is an XCOM-inspired turn-based strategy game set in an alternate history 1930s. Paradox confirms that sales of The Lamplighters League were a “big disappointment” and that the company expects to “do better” in the future. 

The Lamplighters League launched on October 3 and is currently sitting at a mostly positive rating on Steam with 154 reviews, which are admittedly very poor numbers for a relatively high-budget title. According to Paradox, the budget for the game was 320 million Swedish Krona, which roughly translates to about $22 million. The nitty gritty details can be found below as quoted from the CEO of Paradox himself: 

Paradox Interactive has today decided to write down capitalized development costs for the game The Lamplighters League, in addition to the regular degressive amortization done during the game’s first three months. Overall, this will result in that all of the game’s capitalized development costs of MSEK 320 will be recognized as costs in the fourth quarter of 2023. The game’s impact on profit before tax for the fourth quarter is estimated to MSEK -248. The write-down stems from a revised sales forecast, which was established after the game’s release.”

The Lamplighters League currently keeps a Metacritic score of 70 on Xbox and 75 on PC. Reviews have praised the game for its exciting tactical combat, charming cast of characters, a great soundtrack, and an enjoyable and immersive pulpy-spy fiction setting. Criticism falls on the game’s disappointing stealth gameplay, simple combat, and frustrating design decisions. 

Also Read: 

• Paradox Interactive Has 13 New Games In Active Development
• Cities Skylines Has Sold Over 12 Million Copies Worldwide

When speaking on the quality and sales expectations of the game, Paradox had this to say,

The Lamplighters League is a fun game with many strengths. Even though we see cautiously positive player numbers in subscription services, the commercial reception has been too weak, which is frankly a big disappointment. Game projects are by their nature always risky, but at the end of the day we haven’t performed at the level we should. It is painful but makes us more eager to roll up our sleeves and do better.” 

The Lamplighters League is developed by Harebrained Schemes who are responsible for the (fantastic) Shadowrun Trilogy and Battletech. Unfortunately, the studio is yet another victim of the mass layoff epidemic currently rampant in the gaming industry. A former employee at the studio recently posted on ResetEra claiming that 80% of the studio has been laid off. 

Speaking to PCGamer, a rep from Paradox confirmed that layoffs did indeed take place within Harebrained Schemes, but the full extent of these layoffs has not yet been confirmed in any official capacity. They further added that the layoffs happened as the game reached the final stage of its development during the summer, saying that staff was “significantly reduced” over the summer. 

Harebrained Schemes’ staff was significantly reduced over the summer as the game entered its last phase of development and launch preparations.”

Harebrained Schemes is one of the latest studios to suffer from a mass layoff. Last month, Ascendant Studios, the studio behind EA’s Immortals of Aveum lost nearly half of its staff following poor sales of the game. Back in March, the studio behind Forspoken, Luminous Productions, got shut down and merged into Square Enix following the poor commercial and critical success of the game. 

Paradox Interactive itself is seemingly having a tough time as its next major title, Cities Skylines 2 got pushed back to next year for consoles, however, the PC release is still set to launch this month on October 24.