I have made this petition in hopes that Paradox might be swayed to continue development of Imperator: Rome if sufficient support for the game is shown despite their decision to pause and potentially cancel further development.

While it is true that Imperator had a rocky start with a less than stellar release my impression is that the game has started to be seen in a more favorable light by the broader community of the Paradox games.

The reception of Imperator's 2.0 update, does in fact stand in a stark contrast to the game's initial release and cannot be considered anything else than an incredibly successful update. Anecdotally my grand strategy-invested friends seem to be in agreement that at its core Imperator is a superior Paradox title.

This is perhaps made even more tragic by the fact that Imperator's 2.0 release was, to put it lightly, much better received than EU4's new 1.31 update and Leviathan DLC with its 8% positive reviews on Steam, many of which being sarcastic. This means that for the sake of a 7 year old game that developers seem to struggle to release substantial constructive updates for a new and very promising game will likely see its development cancelled.

Part of the reason why Imperator has not seen the popularity it deserves is that the modding community as well as somewhat dedicated Twitch and YouTube channels have failed to emerge to the same extent as for other Paradox games. This is likely due to its bad reception on release and the degree to which the game has rapidly changed since.

However the time to pull support from the game could not be worse as we for the first time since release have started to see this kind of enthusiasm for the game. Here the "Imperatrix: Victoria", "Late Republic" and "Bronze Age" mods deserve mention. It has also, together with CK3, also seen the emergence of a new kind of facilitating mod that will lead to the development of many more mods further down the line in the "Greater Earth Map" mod. Several YouTubers, from Zlewikk to FlorryWorry have also recently played the game and unlike at release these videos seem to be very well received by their viewers. Lord Lambert definitely also deserves mention here for the role he has taken on as a champion for the game.

Imperator has become the most realistic and potentially deepest game of recent Paradox titles and I am dismayed to see its development formally paused as I have been overjoyed by the direction the game has been taking. I was not a fan of the introduction of EU4's mana system and seeing a more modern Paradox title taking up the torch of a somewhat realistic civilization simulator has been a true joy. I already find Imperator more enjoyable to play than other Paradox titles.

While this petition is only asking for the continued development of Imperator, ideally under Arheo's continued lead, I also wish to encourage you to try Imperator if you are a fan of grand strategy games and have not done so yet. If you know you enjoy the game I want to encourage you to purchase the content packs if you have not done so yet as this will let Paradox see that the game can indeed be profitable. Personally I also do not plan on buying any other Paradox games or DLC until we see the continuation of Imperator's development.