00:00:00

Giant Bomb Presents

Giant Bomb Presents: Fredrik Wester and Susana Meza Graham

Austin sits down with the CEO and COO of Paradox Interactive to chat about the company's history and growth, storytelling through strategy games, and the state of labor conditions in the games industry.

Giant Bomb Presents is giantbomb.com's home for interviews, previews, and more.

Oct. 23 2015

Posted by: Austin

In This Episode:

Paradox Interactive AB

Episode Notes:

There's some audio weirdness because I needed to re-dub all of my questions, but it should be mostly okay! -Austin

Edit: Also, I originally posted this as "Giant Bomp Presents," which is why everyone in the comments is saying "bomped." I spent like five minutes thinking that was a phrase for messing up the audio and needing to redub it. Hilarious.

48 Comments

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morchol

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You got "Bomped" ;)

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kensei423

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Podcasts for days!!!

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hassun

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Let the podcasts flooow!

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Painkiller80

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Bomp up the jam bomp it up

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Ett

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The b seems to have fallen over.

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vagrant_gamer

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awww he fixed it already!

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jwl1092

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Podcasts fer dayz

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defaultprophet

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I wish I could get into Crusader Kings 2 or that I was better at combat in EUIV. These games are too much

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austin_walker

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@vagrant_gamer: I did! Sorry! ("Bomped" is a great word tho. Fantastic mouthfeel.)

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vagrant_gamer

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one of the bompsonna's replied to my comment i have been mention I HAVE SEEN THE REPLY MY LIFE IS COMPLETE :D

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omatictoast

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I'll be bathing in podcasts for days!

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effache

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I've played 40+ hours of Crusader Kings II since buying it just 2 weeks ago so this is timed well

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T_wester

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Yeah more great content from Austin.

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effache

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oh woooooooow starting at 12:00 there is some fucked up audio overdubbing

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SaberLion

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Awesome, always loved their crusader kings series

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Sio

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@austin_walker: Yeah, Austin you've got some overdubbing issues going on at 12:00. Unless you really wanted to drown out Susana's answer there :P

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austin_walker

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@varam: Ughhhhh thanks. Taking a look.

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VirgilLeadsYou

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@effache:

There's a good in audio chuckle at the end there too :)

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hassun

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Edited By hassun
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JamesFargoth

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Edited By JamesFargoth

Guys I don't know what to do with all these podcasts

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spitz1000

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this feature is great! keep it up Austin!

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AlvaroFAraujo

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Thanks Austin. I really like PDX publisher a bunch, because they satiate my hunger for Strategy games

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mashzapotato

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Austin sounds so sad and exhausted in the re-dub. All the love :)

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deactivated-616d38c07628a

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Awesome!

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AMyggen

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Guys I don't know what to do with all these podcasts

Put them in your ears.

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Robopengy

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Oh wow! I love Paradoxs games, definitely listing to this :)

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mantonminnick

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I actually really like the mic mishap going on here, makes it sound a lot more personal somehow.

like they're just kinda hanging out

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YummyTreeSap

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Austin's greatest nemeses—microphones—foil him once again!

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Klynn

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Austin you're the best.

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villainy

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This was a really great interview. Thanks Fredrik, Susana, and Austin!

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Rusty8

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Edited By Rusty8

This interview was suprisingly good. Great content!

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Ch0p

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What a great interview, great job Austin. Hopefully we get more of these intimate developer interviews!

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Ry_Ry

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Can't wait to listen to this!

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Cagliostro88

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Edited By Cagliostro88

Great interview Austin. It's nice to be able to know better about these less "known" (as in corporate culture and work philosophy, not in name) gaming realities, instead of the usual media's indie darling to which i get almost over-exposure.

Any chance that you'll be able to give us something about the company on the "opposite side" of the strategy games specturm, Relic Entertainment? I would love to know something in depth about them

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fujiwara_ae86

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what's that sweet jam at the beginning

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Droozy

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Edited By Droozy

I love the Giant Bomb Presents series of interviews! I hope you do many more in the future. Getting insight into the industry and its people is one of the things that draw me to GB and this is a great format for that.

Thank you for the interview Austin and thank you to the people at Paradox!

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iggypoptart

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Now we need an EU4 Playdate. Please keep supplying me with funny and insightful anecdotes/gameplay/interviews from the world of Paradox, Austin. It's my favorite. The CK2 Playdate is what got me into Paradox and back into strategy games as a whole. Thank you so much. 1luv.

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Forderz

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Austin, we need more grand strategy represented on Giantbomb.

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inappropriate_touchscreen

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I really loved this interview. A really good pair of intelligent and pleasant guests.

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totempolejones

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Edited By totempolejones

FINALLY, more GB interviews!

Thanks.

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purc

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Love Paradox, great games and great business model. I like the $30 with regular DLC style. Nice feature!

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aben

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More of this please. Excellent work @austin_walker, very nice interviewing skills. Sorry that you had to redub questions - having been in that position, I know how badly that sucks.

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DCam

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What is the mobile RPG Fredrick mentioned at the end?

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phantome86

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I love that GB now seem to have a Paradox fan, they make some of my favorite games

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CurrySpiced

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Having to re-dub all your questions sounds like a nightmare.