Paradox Interactive CEO Replaced by Her Predecessor
Ebba Ljungerud is no longer the CEO of Paradox Interactive. She has been replaced by Fredrik Wester, who has held this role in the past.
Paradox Interactive has undergone change on the position of CEO. Ebba Ljungerud, who had held the position for over three years has retired. The reason was given as different visions regarding the publisher's development strategy.
Fredrik Wester became the new president. This is interesting in that he has held this role before - from the founding of Paradox until 2018, when he was replaced by Ebba Ljungerud. So after three years, control of the company was taken over by its old boss.
Interestingly, Fredrik Wester's return to the CEO chair is not a temporary solution until someone new is found. The veteran is back permanently and intends to stay in the role long term.
Ebba Ljungerud's three years as CEO have been an intense period for Paradox. During her reign, the company's games achieved their highest activity numbers ever, and Crusader Kings III was a huge commericial success. The publisher was also increasingly active in the mobile and console markets. However, there was no shortage of spectacular failures either. Suffice it to mention the disastrous DLC for Europa Universalis 4, the last of which, namely Leviathan was so bad that it became the worst rated title in the history of Steam.
A big disappointment was also Imperator: Rome. It was supposed to be the next big strategy brand in Paradox's portfolio, but it failed to live up to expectations and its development was suspended a few months ago.
The most painful failure, however, was Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. The game was supposed to debut in early 2020, but then suffered one delay after another. Last year fans of the brand were shocked by the creative director Ka'ai Cluney and head writer Brian Mitsoda being laid off, the latter being one of the fathers of the first part. The controversial move didn't save the sequel, however, as the entire Hardsuit Labs studio was pulled from the project in March of this year. Officially this is not the end of Bloodlines 2 but no one believes that the title will ever be made. If a game under this title will be released in the future, it will most likely be a completely new production.
