Paradox Interactive announced that it’s going to start supporting multiplayer functions in its games in order to allow players to connect with one another. The first game that’s going to have this functionality is going to be Imperator: Rome. That means players can play with each other whether they’re using Windows, MacOS, or Linux. It also won’t matter where the game was bought, whether it was from GOG, the Paradox Store, Steam, or any other digital retailers.
This multiplayer approach is going to be added to other current, as well as upcoming, games from Paradox.
According to Paradox, this new platform-independent multiplayer system is going to be powered by Nakama. This system is designed by Heroic Labs of San Francisco. The multiplayer feature is offered through the free in-game Paradox account. Once signed in, players can immediately connect to other players of Imperator: Rome.
In a statement, Paradox Vice President of Technology Kristian Laustsen said that “Paradox grand strategies tell some of their best stories when you’re up against other crafty and ambitious players, and out multiplayer experience is an essential part of our games.” Imperator: Rome is just the first game to have this independent system and more games are going to include this in the future. Laustsen went on to say that as their “game become available in more stores and on more systems, we never want a group of friends to miss out on these shared stories simply because they got the game from different places.”
Meanwhile, Heroic Labs Chief Technology Officer Andrei Mihu said that they are excited to partner with Paradox for this project and since Nakama is a product that can be easily deployed, they can “integrated with all of Paradox Interactive’s existing technology and in-house systems to bring enhancement such as cross-platform multiplayer to their players and more.”
New Update
Talking about Imperator: Rome, the game recently released the “Menander” update which offers greater depth to the cultural management in the game, among many other improvements. Features of this free update are:
- Cultural Integration
- Players can extend political rights, including citizenship, to large subject minorities, which increases not only their loyalty, but also productivity.
- Reworked Rebellions
- Rebels are now more likely to grow in strength among same culture provinces as rebels take land, demonstrating the viability of their cause.
- Noble Population
- The upper classes in player’s provinces have specific needs and are more likely to lead rebellions.
- Reworked Politics
- Republics have fewer political parties to track.
- Their voting preferences are more easily understood.
