Paradox Interactive Reviews

Pros

No pros at all none

Cons

Horrible Ceo Market team is horrible always asks you to be in trailers Tries to put up a fake view to the community

Pros

Company is usually stable Good people Lot of different titles to work on

Cons

Low wages Doesn’t understand franchises it holds Managers won’t support you Support staff treated poorly Hard work not recognized

Pros

At about 800 employees, Paradox is too big to take any one experience as universal. For example, several people working in the Development Studio talked about conditions improving just when things in Publishing (where I worked) got worse. In one of the 'good' parts, you can look forward to a stable job in small-to-medium sized teams where professional growth can happen quickly (compared to game companies of similar size), for a squarely average salary. If you're looking to enter the industry or to switch (e.g.) out of indie into bigger budget development, that can be a good deal. There's a clear push towards diversity from the top of the company. I'm the wrong person to say in how far it's successful. People who're more affected have described different outcomes to me. I'd recommend reaching out to one or two people that aren't part of the interview process, to get a second set of impressions about your specific place of work.

Cons

Paradox is in the middle of big changes. Two years ago, it was a ~400 person company that saw almost the full senior leadership team change within six months. Today it has doubled, and there's talk of matching EA and similar. This, plus a few legacy issues, can lead you in a difficult place: - Paradox has always run on lean teams. That didn't change while demands increased. The result was some people racking up hundreds of hours of overtime, while others just stopped. - Several members of the new leadership seemed to arrive with some disdain for the company they had just joined, and in a few cases, the idea of publishing video games altogether. In one instance, this led to a well-regarded 5+ year Paradox veteran being deployed into a support role while the same department put out ads for leads with no previous industry experience. You can imagine the impact on team morale. - Mid-level managers have traditionally complained about a lack of training at the company. With the change they were given more power, along with the task to communicate leadership decisions and -plans downward. This led to a lot of interdepartmental politics and micro-management of unevenly informed project teams. - Patronage and favouritism have been a long-time reality at Paradox. Efforts have been made to change that, but they didn't always take. If you see an internal job ad for an attractive senior position, wait and see whether one of your managers invites you to apply. It'll save you time and embarrassment. I respect everyone who decided to stick it out and see where the journey goes. But if you get the impression of such an environment in your interview, I would think twice before jumping in.