Europa Universalis IV demo out; Crusader Kings save converter priced

Ahead of its launch next Tuesday, Paradox has a released a demo for historical strat-o-rama Europa Universalis IV. In slightly less pleasant news, though, it's announced that the Crusader Kings II save game converter offered as a pre-order bonus will otherwise cost a whopping $10. I'm normally hesitant to recommend pre-ordering but, well, if you like your history hard and heavy, it may save you quite a few dollars here.

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Ahead of its launch next Tuesday, Paradox has a released a demo for historical strat-o-rama Europa Universalis IV. In slightly less pleasant news, though, it's announced that the Crusader Kings II save game converter offered as a pre-order bonus will otherwise cost a whopping $10. I'm normally hesitant to recommend pre-ordering but, well, if you like your history hard and heavy, it may save you quite a few dollars here.

The demo's over on Steam, cunningly concealed behind a giant "DOWNLOAD DEMO" button. Paradox explains that the demo lets you play through 28 years of history as one of four nations, each with very different styles--from trading to all-out war.

Paradox confirmed earlier this week that all the pre-order bonuses will be sold separately at launch too, and, well, their pricing does make pre-ordering quite tempting. The CK2 save converter, which lets people import their ragged empires and dynasties into the age of nations, will cost $9.99, while the pre-order bonus DLC will be $6.99.

Considering that pre-ordering also gets you a copy of Crusader Kings II--which has a ticket price of $40, though it's frequently on sale for $20--for yourself or a chum, well, it's tempting.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    August 8, 2013 8:30 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Europa Universalis IV demo out; Crusader Kings save converter priced.

    Ahead of its launch next Tuesday, Paradox has a released a demo for historical strat-o-rama Europa Universalis IV. In slightly less pleasant news, though, it's announced that the Crusader Kings II save game converter offered as a pre-order bonus will otherwise cost a whopping $10. I'm normally hesitant to recommend pre-ordering but, well, if you like your history hard and heavy, it may save you quite a few dollars here.

    • reply
      August 8, 2013 8:38 AM

      Dumb move to make the converter cost money. You can encourage more people to play by supporting the converter for free.

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      August 8, 2013 8:41 AM

      [deleted]

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      August 8, 2013 8:42 AM

      Yeah, if this was free or something like $2 bucks, I'd probably give it a shot to take my crusaders game to Europa. But I'm not sure if I really want to yet, so I'll basically wait until next summer during the summer sale on all of this.

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      August 8, 2013 10:05 AM

      I've been waiting for a steam sale to get CKII after watching the thumbs stream. I just bought this...two for the price of one! Goodbye sweet family.

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      August 8, 2013 10:27 AM

      Wow these guys try to nickle and dime you for everything.

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        August 8, 2013 10:32 AM

        EA is still the king at gouging you for every penny, though.

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      August 8, 2013 11:50 AM

      Paying for converter? WTF!

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      August 8, 2013 6:39 PM

      Seems like a smart move to drive pre-order sales. I would guess that the portion of the audience for this game that would want the save converter functionality but don't have EU pre-ordered is pretty small. Any amount of that audience who does go on to pay the $10 for the save converter is almost pure profit for Paradox. Pricing it like this increases the perceived value of the pre-order and gives them room to reduce the save converter's price in a sale or include it with the game as a value add in a rerelease of the game.

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      August 8, 2013 7:03 PM

      I can't believe how many of you guys are complaining about an addition to a game that has no effect on it.

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      August 8, 2013 7:13 PM

      I haven't played any of the EU games, how do they differ from Crusader Kings?

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        August 8, 2013 7:20 PM

        From what i've seen in the demo so far, theres more emphasis on trade, conquest, and expansion. The map doesn't change so often so quickly; its more static because of less occurrences of civil war and political backstabbing.

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