Victoria 3 sells 500,000 copies to become one of Paradox's most successful launches

Victoria 3 has sold 500,000 copies in just over a month to become one of Paradox Interactive's most successful launches ever.

The grand-strategy title was developed and published by Paradox and launched on October 25, 2022, for PC.

The game lets players shape a society over the course of the 19th century, balancing the competing political and economic interests of their subjects as they attempt to create an empire worthy of memory.

The milestone caps a busy year for Paradox, which launched a new Paradox Arc publishing label in August to help smaller developers bring titles to larger audiences.

Prior to that, Paradox announced that Crusader Kings III had sold 2 million copies in under two years, becoming one of the fastest Paradox titles to hit that total.

The company also made headlines for less savoury reasons, however, with an independent audit conducted by Gender Balance finding that the Swedish publisher had "clear problems" preventing and investigating misconduct.

Paradox pledged to take action to improve its workplace culture following the audit, with Paradox technical lead and union representative Zack Holmgren suggesting staff were "very satisfied" wit the investigation itself and had cause for optimism following the company's response.

"We trust that the clear acknowledgement of existing issues, the actions planned, and the transparency surrounding this process will lead to clear improvements of the work conditions and culture at Paradox," said Holmgren at the time.