- Paradox abandoned the turn-based tactics genre after its Xbox-exclusive entry flopped last year.
- The Lamplighters League did not meet expectations, and even the pre-order sales were pretty low.
- The developers said the title was commercially dead on arrival and was not the game people wanted.
Paradox Interactive is mostly known for its grand strategy games, with some pretty prominent franchises in the industry. Nevertheless, the company has also occasionally dipped its toes into other genres. Its last attempt with the Xbox-exclusive The Lamplighters League, however, completely flopped last year.
Its niche turn-based tactics genre might be to blame, but Paradox has recently claimed that it is dropping the whole genre after the massive flop. The Lamplighters League did not sell well on Xbox consoles or PC, which has made Paradox see no point in releasing another similar title.
Why it matters: Paradox ditching the turn-based tactics genre confirms that The Lamplighters League flopped hard on Xbox last year. The XCOM-styled title failed to meet expectations, so much so that the developers are completely giving up on the genre.
In an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, Paradox Interactive CEO Mattias Lilja elaborated that there is no reason to compete with a giant like XCOM, a successful turn-based tactics franchise. The truth is that XCOM is quite a rarity and dominates its niche genre, making competition extremely hard.
When we released The Lamplighters League, it quickly became very obvious to us that this was not the game that people wanted, and we were not going to be able to save it.
As a result, the developers declared The Lamplighters League to be “commercially dead on arrival” because the game’s pre-order sales on Xbox were disappointing for the studio overall.
While The Lamplighters League might have flopped because of low sales, many argue that its Xbox exclusivity was the main culprit behind the failure. But what do you think caused the title to lose so badly? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or join us for a discussion in our official Tech4Gamers forum.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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