Paradox Development Studio

Approximately History: Developer Perspectives on Counterfactual History in Digital Strategy Games

This study examines how developers at Paradox Development Studio approach counterfactual history in two strategy games, Europa Universalis IV (2013) and Hearts of Iron IV (2016), which allow players to explore alternative outcomes to historical events.

• The study argues that counterfactual scenarios in digital strategy games are shaped by game design practice, genre conventions, and commercial considerations, not just historical interest, and that these factors together determine how games use the past in the present.
• Counterfactual scenarios are analysed through three categories: wishful thinking (reconstructing the in-game past within the in-game present), possible worlds (reimagining in-game outcomes), and future fiction (exploring consequences of altered events), distinguished by their focus and their arguments about causality, continuity, and contingency.
• The research combines qualitative interviews with Paradox Development Studio developers and volunteer beta testers in Stockholm with a technical analysis of the games' scripted code and localisation files, focusing on Europa Universalis IV (2013) and Hearts of Iron IV (2016).