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'Project Postman' is War of the Roses, a medieval multiplayer melee actioner
"The focus initially is gonna be on the PC," Paradox Interactive senior producer Gordon Van Dyke told me in an interview last week about the next title from Lead & Gold devs Fatshark. "Project Postman," now known as War of the Roses, was announced earlier this year by Paradox head Fredrik Wester as a "dream game" for the collaborators, but we knew little else about it. That is, until this afternoon at Gamescom, where the Swedish publisher unveiled the melee-based title. "Absolutely, it's being thought of as a franchise," Van Dyke continued, though he's not yet sure how that will play out in terms of branding. "We've been looking into franchise names. It's actually really hard to find a name that has anything to do with combat in video games." As the name implies, the game set between 1455 and 1485 -- during the "War of the Roses" era in England -- though it's not necessarily steeped in Medieval politics. Instead, it focuses on the regular battles between English houses jockeying for control of the kingdom. %Gallery-130828%
Ex-Battlefield lead Gordon Van Dyke joins Paradox Interactive as senior producer
After exiting the dev battlefield of DICE back in 2010, Gordon Van Dyke recently left his second EA gig at Visceral Games in favor of a different Swedish game company: Paradox Interactive. Before wild accusations start flying, know that his reason for leaving was rather heartwarming. "During my time back in California [with Visceral], I married my girlfriend from Sweden and we had a baby. We decided it was best to raise her in Sweden," Van Dyke told Joystiq this afternoon. In the process of moving, a friend of Paradox CEO Fred Wester put he and Gordon in contact. The rest is Swedish history. "I got an email from a friend introducing me to Gordon. Two days later he was hired," Wester explained of his rapid hiring process. Van Dyke, unsurprisingly, had nothing but nice things to say about his new employer, explaining that the studio "offers me more room to explore, take risk, and work on creative niche IPs."
'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.
Paradox CEO outs Fatshark's next project, codenamed 'Project Postman'
Fatshark's next game is "primarily a PC title to begin with," Paradox CEO (and head of snappy haircuts) Fredrik Wester told me in a recent interview at Joystiq's NYC offices. "We're doing a new game with them at the moment, which is also multiplayer-focused," Wester added. "Project Postman" is the working title for a game currently in development at Fatshark, with Paradox signed on as publisher. "We'll see about consoles," Wester skittishly noted. As you might imagine, his company is a bit wary of confirming console games that may or may not ever arrive, given past experiences. Without going into details about the game itself, Wester did reveal that the title would be "announced later this year," though he specifically pointed out that it won't be a big E3 announcement. "I think we're actually waiting for summer, or maybe GamesCom in Germany where we have more stuff to show." He also said that the unnamed game would likely have a trailer by the time GamesCom happens in August. As for why his studio names its projects after Kevin Costner films ... that's less logical. But in a good way. Head past the break for the hilarious roots of Paradox's strange tradition.
