Paradox is unquestionably the master of grand strategy games, with Europa Universalis 4, Hearts of Iron 4, Crusader Kings 3, Stellaris, Victoria 3 and Age of Wonders 4 among its roster of historical and fantastical epics. With so much downloadable add-on content available for many of these, one of the most popular offerings for both EU4 and HoI4 are their subscription services, which give you access to all of their current and future expansion packs, immersion packs, and content packs without having to buy them all. Unfortunately, if this is your preferred way to pay for these games, you’re about to face a hefty price hike.
“We want to inform you about an upcoming price change for subscription services for two of our games,” Paradox communications manager ‘LordChristof’ writes on the studio’s forum. These changes will affect Europa Universalis 4 and Hearts of Iron 4, and will come into effect on Tuesday January 16 for both of the beloved grand strategy games. It’s a fairly dramatic change, especially for users paying in single-month installments, who now face a 60% increase in their subscription cost.
Europa Universalis 4 and Hearts of Iron 4 subscription price changes
- One month subscriptions will rise from $4.99 (£4.29) to $7.99 per month.
- Three month subscriptions will rise from $13.99 (£11.79) to $14.99 for three months.
- Six month subscriptions, previously priced at $26.99 (£22.69), will no longer be available after Tuesday January 16.
It’s a dramatic change, and one that comes suddenly. “We want to acknowledge that this heads-up is coming late,” LordChristof writes. “It’s not ideal and, as you might know from our other updates on pricing, we always inform you all early about commercial decisions like these. We’ll do our best to continue giving you information like this sooner in the future.”
As for why the price change has been made, LordChristof explains that “the current prices for these subscriptions were set two years ago. Since then, we’ve released more DLCs for our games, and the amount of content included in these subscriptions is simply higher now.” They add that “this price change is unrelated to the regional currency adjustment that we communicated back in December,” which didn’t affect the price for USD, GBP, or Euro-using customers.
If you’ve picked up either EU4 or HoI4 in a Steam sale and liked them enough to want more, the subscriptions are a fantastic way to check out all the DLC without stumping up for them individually, which can quickly add up given how much add-on content now exists for both games. You’ll now be paying more for that privilege, however.
For those of you trying to work out which options are right for you, we’ve got guides to the best Europa Universalis DLC and the best Hearts of Iron 4 DLC, according to our PCGamesN strategy game experts.
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