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PC Gamer
PC Gamer
Justin Wagner

Europa Universalis 2's launch was a desperate gambit for Paradox's survival: 'It needs to be done so it's sold in the US market before Christmas, because we need the money else we cannot pay people'

EU5 key art.

Europa Universalis wasn't always a household name in strategy gaming. Like the company behind it, EU has had a fraught journey over the years—and as EU lead Johan Andersson explained in an interview with PC Gamer news writer Joshua Wolens, the early days were spent trying to keep the lights on.

Europa Universalis 2, for instance, was conceived under brutal time constraints. Andersson explained, "We came up with a bunch of ideas for what we should be doing. I think we, in two or three meetings, wrote down, like, three pages of ideas, and it's 'Okay, we need to get this game out quickly, and it needs to be done so it's sold in the US market before Christmas, because we need the money [or] else we cannot pay people.'"

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