Victoria 3, the game of paradoxes that includes Karl Marx as president, will soon be getting its first major expansion, called Sphere of Influence, which focuses on regional interests and entanglements with foreign economies, as well as the myriad interests of its own country. It promises to strengthen the diplomatic side of Vicky by focusing on regional interests and interactions with foreign economies, and by encouraging organizations to form lobbies to promote change.

In other words, more political headaches than ever. Unfortunately, however, Paradox has postponed the launch of the expanded edition. Previously scheduled to be released on May 6, it will now be postponed to June 24. This will also affect the release of the free patches that accompany the update.

"We are pleased with the features offered in 1.7/Sphere of Influence," says Martin Anward, game director of Victoria 3. After all, Sphere of Influence needs some major tweaking before release, and the delay of the DLC is to give Paradox "time for bug fixes and refinement."

"Both Update 1.7 and Sphere of Influence contain some fundamental changes to the game's functionality," says Anward. These sweeping changes have caused massive problems, and Paradox does not want to tarnish the release with "excessive bugs, crashes, and a general lack of polish."

That means one of two things: either Paradox is tightening its standards for DLC releases, or the bugs Sphere of Influence is causing are apocalyptically bad. Fans of the studio's games are accustomed to DLCs bringing new features and various bugs at the same time. [The most recent and dramatic example I can recall is "Leviathan" from Europa Universalis 4, which still has an "overwhelmingly negative" rating of 10% on Steam because the bugs were so dire after its release in 2021 (not all of which were due to bugs Some people don't like the changes).

So, Mr. Paradox, please take as much time as you need. In particular, "Victoria 3" could use an expansion that will get a glance from the community; "Victoria 3" has a high score of 84% in the reviews, but it is still "Mixed" in the Steam reviews. If the first big expansion comes out with a bang, it could be just what the game needs to win the hearts and minds of its fans.