The rights to Prison Architect have been acquired by Paradox Interactive from Introversion Software for an unknown fee. Even if you don’t completely recognize the name, you’ve probably heard of Paradox Interactive in some form. With games like Cities: Skylines, Crusader Kings, Hearts of Iron, and more under their belt, they’re one of the most renowned developers and publishers of strategy games in the industry. It isn’t much of a surprise that a management simulation game like Prison Architect was of interest to Paradox Interactive.
Prison Architect is one of the most successful simulation games in recent history. Starting as a crowd-funded project, Prison Architect was in early access from 2012 until the game officially released in 2015 to great success, selling over two million copies over multiple platforms and even winning a BAFTA award. Paradox Interactive is now responsible for the game in all aspects, meaning the company is now in charge of the continued development and support of Prison Architect and Prison Architect: Mobile on all platforms. Introversion Co-founder Mark Morris had commented on the acquisition, stating, “We’ve been building and managing this building-and-management game for nearly a decade. I think we’ve taken Prison Architect just about as far as we can, and we’re all eager to see where a team like Paradox can take it next!”
Introversion Software is also working on a new project according to Morris, who says that news of it will be coming “soon”. Something to note, Paradox Interactive mentions their plans to delve deeper into the “Architect” IP. The implication that the company will look into developing games of the same style but with a focus on something other than prison simulation and management opens up loads of possibilities. Whatever Paradox Interactive decides to develop for the potential “Architect” series, we’ll be sure to cover it here.