Paradox Releases History Lectures for Europa Universalis IV
Europa Universalis IV, a game filled to the brim with information about geography, history and culture gets even more educational with a new series of history lectures integrated into the game's music player about two very popular nations - China and Japan, each sold separately. This partnership with popular podcasters is the first in what is hoped to be a more extensive collaboration between Paradox Interactive’s grand strategy games and history educators and enthusiasts.
These History Lesson Packs add new audio tracks to Europa Univeralis IV’s music playlist. These lectures, dealing with the history of early modern Japan and China were recorded by Laszlo Montgomery, host of the History of China podcast and Isaac Meyer, host of the History of Japan podcast. These experienced podcasters add detailed information about the context and importance of many of the concepts, nations and personalities encountered while playing Europa Universalis IV.
“The History Lessons DLC offers up a quick, nutritious meal for players looking for some relevant and historical context to go along with their strategy gaming experience,” says Montgomery. “It was a great pleasure for me to work with the team at Paradox Interactive, sharing our passion to convey the pleasures of world history to mass audiences. The world of EU4 and all the other grand strategy games produced by Paradox are a perfect way to bridge the worlds of gaming and history.”
Ryan Sumo, Paradox’s Business Owner for Europa Universalis IV, sees this as the first step in both widening and deepening Paradox’s relationship with historical education.
“A lot of people say they learn so much from Paradox games. It makes sense, I think, to explore how we can enhance that experience and give players more information about the past in our game without just adding more text,” Sumo says. “We’re already planning how we can integrate history lectures into other games, not to mention exploring greater cooperation with educational institutions.”
“A lifelong love of history is something that is shared by both the developers and players of our games, including myself. So we were excited by the idea of giving our players a new way to experience history inside our games, and perhaps learn about different nations they might want to play. As an appreciator of podcasts, I also know that audio can be a much more immersive experience than reading text, and we were fortunate enough to find some podcasters who shared our excitement for this project,” Sumo says. “We’re already planning how we can integrate history lectures into other games, as well as working on lesson plans to help educators understand how to use our games in the classroom.”
The History Lesson packs are each available for the suggested retail price of $4.99/£4.29/€4.99.