Just last week, developer Hairbrained Schemes and publisher Paradox Interactive released The Lamplighters League for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation platforms. While it"s only been on sale for a few days, and it"s also available for Microsoft"s Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass services, Paradox is going ahead and declaring the game"s release as a sales dud.
First announced in March, the turn-based tactical strategy game is set in an alternate 1930s where a team of pulp magazine-style heroes fight evil forces. However, this week Paradox announced it will take a one-time write-down charge of 248 million Swedish Krona, or about $22.7 million, for the current quarter, due to the game"s lower-than-expected sales.
In the press release, Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester actually praised The Lamplighters League, saying it was "a fun game with many strengths". However, he added:
Even though we see cautiously positive player numbers in subscription services, the commercial reception has been too weak, which is frankly a big disappointment. Game projects are by their nature always risky, but at the end of the day we haven’t performed at the level we should. It is painful but makes us more eager to roll up our sleeves and do better.
The Seattle-based Hairbrained Schemes, which Paradox acquired in 2018, previously had solid critical and sales hits with its tactical turned based titles based on Shadowrun and particularly with its last game, Battletech, which launched in 2018.
Paradox has two more games due for release this month. The first is the PC-exclusive space strategy game Star Trek Infinites, which will be released tomorrow, October 12. The other is Cities: Skylines II, the city building and management sim sequel from developer Colossal Order. The PC version will launch on October 24, but in another blow for Paradox, it announced a few weeks ago that the Xbox and PlayStation versions of the game have been delayed until spring 2024.