We can just focus on the creativity and tech side of things, which we really like. The only thing is we don’t have to worry about a lot of the business decisions that we used to have to worry about, like finding an external investor or sorting all sorts of legal stuff surrounding the projects. We’ve been going in the same way as before. As directors we’re still heavily involved in making games. GamesBeat: What’s it like, after the acquisition, to continue on with Triumph and not go found a new project?

GamesBeat: Triumph was in fine shape, then, when Paradox came knocking. GamesBeat: It’s hard to say no to Paradox. Paradox approached us somewhere in 2016 and said, you’re doing nicely, but would you want to consider doing this as a part of Paradox? That’s when we got acquired. We did two expansions, Eternal Lore and Golden Realms. Lennart Sas: No, there was lots of interest in having in published, but it was sort of the golden age of self-publishing, so we gave that a shot. Did you not have anyone interested in publishing it, or did you just want to do it on your own? GamesBeat: You self-published the last Age of Wonders game in 2014.

This is an edited transcript of our interview. Afterwards, I talked to Sas (Triumph’s CEO and Planetfall’s creative director) about what I played, the studio’s business before and after the Paradox acquisition, changing to a sci-fi setting, and the burgeoning competition Steam is seeing from the Epic Games Store, Discord, and more. Age of Wonders: Planetfall is coming out August 6 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. That’s what I found with my hands-on session with the PC version. And despite Triumph picking a new setting, it sure looks like the Swedish publisher is leaving Triumph to do what it does best - make strategy games with tactical depth. In 2017, Paradox wasn’t sure if it would change how Triumph made Age of Wonders. And all of this success led to Paradox Interactive acquiring the studio in 2017.

This helped Triumph put out a pair of expansions. The studio self-published Age of Wonders III in 2014, and by 2016, it had sold more than 500,000 copies. Planetfall follows what’s been a successful period for Triumph.

Age of wonders planetfall demo ps4