World War II game has the most players on Steam in 8 years – thanks to a Germany DLC

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Hearts of Iron IV was released on Steam in June 2016. 8 years later it sets a player record: 93,196 players were there on Saturday, November 16th. 2024, logged in at the same time. This is due to the new DLC “Twilight of the Gods”, which focuses on Germany. But why is an 8-year-old strategy game doing so well in such a niche?

How are Paradox’s historical strategy games running on Steam? Paradox has four 4x strategy games with a historical background, all of which are still actively played on Steam years after release. Each of the games will continue to be developed as games-as-a-service titles and will receive regular DLCs and updates:

  • Victoria 3, which focuses on business, had 70,000 players at its peak when it was released in October 2022, but now only around 6,000 are online on Steam at the same time.
  • The huge Europa Universalis IV had 48,000 players at its peak 6 years after release, in June 2020, but even now, more than 10 years after launch, there are still around 14,600 people online at the same time.
  • Crusader Kings 3, with a strong role-playing focus, is often seen as Paradox’s flagship and also has the highest player peak of 98,474 players at release, but usually only has around 16,000 players online.
  • The war-focused Hearts of Iron IV, however, has an average of 35,000 players online and has now reached a new high of 93,196 players on Steam over the weekend

    • There is still “Imperator: Rome” by Paradox, but it is considered a black sheep and has been discontinued.

    The new DLC for Hears of Iron IV, Götterdämmerung, is causing a massive player boom:

    Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung – trailer for the new DLC

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    Mods, multiplayer and memes keep Hearts of Iron fresh

    Why is Hearts of Iron so strong? Although Hearts of Iron is already 8 years old, it seems to have appealed to a large group of players over the years because it has a lively and creative modding community, an active multiplayer scene and there are few alternatives to the scenario gives.

    What started as a “Second World War” simulation in the basic version in 2016 is now, thanks to many mods, more of a “what if” power simulation for fans in the 30s, 40s and 50s.

    And a Germany DLC like “Götterdämmerung” provides a lot of new fodder here.

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    In the forums of Paradox fans who are otherwise enthusiastic about history, Hears of Iron is more likely to talk about the memes that the game creates than about historical facts. Many memes are created on Reddit:

  • A user found Eva Braun and finds her values ​​exaggerated.
  • Another user is amused that Werner Heisenberg is in the game, as the scientist gave the hero from Breaking Bad his name and was mentioned in many an iconic scene (via YouTube):

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    “It’s all good if you don’t take it too seriously”

    How is the Götterdämmerung DLC ​​arriving on Steam? The new DLC “Götterdämmerung” currently has 83% positive reviews on Steam.

    One comment says (via steam):

    All well and good if you don’t take the whole thing seriously, because if you do and evaluate this expansion on realism and in the relevant historical context, it would fail horribly. The Belgian FN FAL in 1942 and the MEFO matter, which was more of a hindrance than a benefit to Germany, are some examples that come to mind in this context.

    We can always modify things though, so have fun.

    In Germany, many have a different perspective on the Germany DLC for Hearts of Iron IV. The German strategy expert and historian Steinwallen has explained why he is critical of the DLC and does not want to discuss it in detail on his YouTube channel: Expert refuses to to discuss the Germany DLC of a war game on Steam

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