Paradox says The Lamplighters League sales were 'a big disappointment,' confirms recent layoffs at developer Harebrained Schemes
Paradox Interactive is taking a big financial hit on the turn-based tactics game The Lamplighters League, saying that sales of the game have been «a big disappointment.» Paradox also confirmed that significant layoffs had been made at developer Harebrained Schemes, but clarified that those layoffs occurred in the summer, a few months before The Lamplighters League was released.
The Lamplighters League, a pulp-inspired tale of a secret society battling an army of the occult in the 1930s, looked potentially interesting when it was revealed in March, in part because it was being developed by Harebrained Schemes, the studio behind the Shadowrun RPGs and the excellent tactics game Battletech. But it never really seemed to gain much traction with gamers in the months leading up to its release in October, and the final product was not great: It's «an over-ambitious and technically flawed tactics game that can't live up to its more accomplished influences,» we said in our 62% review.
Just one week after release, publisher Paradox Interactive has decided to throw in the towel, essentially saying that it's eating the cost of making the game as a loss to the tune of 248 million Swedish kronor—roughly $22.8 million. Paradox said the decision to write down the development expense was made after The Lamplighter League's release, when sales failed to reach expectations.
«The Lamplighters League is a fun game with many strengths,» Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester said in a press release. «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
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