author: Zuzanna Domeradzka
Subscription Prices for Hearts of Iron IV and Europa Universalis 4 Raised by Paradox
Subscription prices for Paradox's two popular strategies, Hearts of Iron 4 and Europa Universalis 4, will soon increase. The monthly subscription will be about 60% more expensive.
Paradox Interactive has been changing the prices of their games for some time now. This is caused by many factors, and the increases in game and DLC prices have affected a new group of players. Unfortunately, the publisher continues its adopted policy, and this time its victims are subscriptions to the still very popular strategy games, which are Europa Universalis IV and Hearts of Iron IV.
How much will the subscription price increase?
From the message posted on the Paradox forum we learn that:
- The monthly fee for the Expansion Subscription for both of the aforementioned games will increase from $4.99 to $7.99. This means an increase of 60% and the local prices will most likely reflect this change as well;
- The increase for a 3-month subscription will be small - from $13.99 to $14.99;
- The 6-month variant will be completely removed from the offer;
- All these changes will take effect on January 16.
"Expansion Subscription", as the name suggests, provides access to all expansions that have been released for Europa Universalis IV and Hearts of Iron IV. Interestingly, the slightly older Crusader Kings II also offers a similar subscription, but the increase in question will not affect this game.
Reasons for changes
Paradox initially justified the decision to raise prices in the following way:
The current prices of these subscriptions were set two years ago. Since then, we have released more DLCs for our games, so the subscription content has simply become larger. That's why we decided to raise their prices for both games.
One of Paradox's fans stated in a comment under the publisher's post that the increase in the monthly subscription price by as much as 60% solely because of the release of several new expansions is a bit "shocking". The developer replied that the increased subscription offer is "one of the main factors that caused the price increase, but not the only one." Another reason mentioned by the creator is "inflationary pressure".
It is worth adding that in 2022, Paradox argued that price increases for its games were mainly the result of "continuous changes in the currency market". By the way, from January 16th, the cost of some of the publisher's games in selected regions will increase again. The change in the cost of the Expansion Subscription is unrelated to this matter.
