Paradox writes off The Lamplighters League as a commercial failure

The Lamplighters League has only been out for over a week, and Paradox Interactive already considers it a financial loss. On the company's website, the publisher said it would be writing down the game at 248 million Swedish Krona, or $22 million.

In a statement, Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester noted sales for the new title from Harebrained Schemes "has been too weak, which is frankly a big disappointment. Game projects are by their nature always risky, but at the end of the day we haven’t performed at the level we should."

Wester noted that Lamplighters was a "fun game with many strengths," and that it was doing "positively player numbers" thanks to launching on Xbox Game Pass. The strategy game is currently available for Xbox Series X|S and PC. 

"It is painful," concluded Wester, "but makes us more eager to roll up our sleeves and do better."

For game releases, timing is everything

More than any recent year, 2023 has made it clear that a game's release date can play a huge hand in its success. Earlier months, such as April and June, had big releases like Dead Island 2 and Street Fighter 6, that sold fairly well despite other equally big titles coming out at the same time, like Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom or Diablo IV. 

But the month of October will be particularly eventful. October releases include the recent Assassin's Creed Mirage and Detective Pikachu Returns, along with this week's Lords of the Fallen. Future releases for the month include Spider-Man 2, Super Mario Wonder (both on October 20) and Alan Wake II (October 27). 

The remainder of 2023 is so heavy with games that Don't Nod elected to delay its upcoming title Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden from November to February 2024, a considerably "less saturated period" of releases.