Europa Universalis 5's unusual, year-long reveal was a lesson Paradox learned from Imperator's mixed reception: 'I wanted to do it a little bit earlier, but marketing people tend to get panicky when you start talking'

EU5 key art.

It was pretty obvious, right from the first dev diary published on February 24, 2024 that Paradox Tinto was working on Europa Universalis 5. The studio had been set up to maintain 2013's Europa Universalis 4, and was headed by EU director Johan Andersson. Everything it showed us from Project Caesar screamed Europa Universalis 5.

And Andersson had been extremely eager to get started. "I wanted to make a new game," he told me earlier this year, in Tinto's unassuming suburban office, located in Sitges, Spain. "I'd learned so much from Imperator, and the post-launch there and figuring out what I want to do when I'm doing the next game. I'd been trying out ideas in my head and then realised, OK, I can make an EU sequel. We need to make an EU sequel."