'Project Postman' is a 'dream game' for Paradox and Fatshark

As recently as 2008, Paradox Interactive was only able to sign on for the projects it could afford to pay for at the time, rather than looking at what was best for the publisher and what fit with its goals. "Just three years ago ... we signed whatever we could afford," CEO Fredrik Wester told me in a recent interview. "Now, we actually make the games we wanna make."

And why not boast? Wester's privately owned publishing outfit has been growing steadily since opening in 1998. "We grew 50 percent in gross revenue last year," he added. "And another 60 to 70 percent this year is the plan." Those are high hopes, but with Magicka's continued success and plans for what Wester calls a "dream game" with Fatshark, he may actually realize them.

"Project Postman" is the working title (no relation to Kevin Costner's film of the same name) for a game that Paradox will publish from Lead & Gold developer Fatshark. "That's gonne be a game where we sit down with Fatshark and say, 'What type of game do we wanna do based on what's in the Paradox portfolio? Based on what kind of games we play and what kind of games we represent very well?'" Wester mused.

It may sound strange that Paradox -- after being in business for roughly 13 years -- is just now making exactly the kind of games that it wants to make with exactly the developers that it wants to work with, but it's more common than you might imagine. Not every game publisher has annualized goliaths like Call of Duty or Madden. Paradox instead keeps its small but steady approach, staking a claim on niche PC titles rather than blockbuster console fare.

But slowly and surely, the Swedish company is growing. "We are one of the biggest independent publishers these days. Most of the people are either listed on the stock exchange or have big financial owners -- we're still basically privately-held," Wester explained. "So it's interesting times. We can do whatever we wanna do," he added with a laugh. "We have full freedom -- 'artistic freedom,' which is something I hate when people say because it means they wanna do something that doesn't make sense normally."

Wester's mix of passion for games (his Steam account allegedly reflects over 180 hours with Mount & Blade: Warband) with business sensibility help drive internal questions at the publisher about how to work with developers. "What kind of game would their team really have a passion for doing?" he wonders of Fatshark. "This is gonna be our dream game, together. And that's the way I wanna see it, together with studios, saying 'What do you guys like? Okay! This is what we like. Can we do something together?' So, Project Postman is it."

We likely won't see anything on the game until some time after E3, with Wester teasing a possible GamesCom trailer debut. For now, though, both he and his company have a lot of work to do. On their own terms, for once.