Johan Andersson is preparing for a game launch. He's done it before. The director on the imminent Europa Universalis 5 and studio lead at Paradox Tinto has been making history for more than a quarter of a century; if you've played one of the studio's sprawling strategy sims, he's almost certainly touched it. Odds are he directed it. Since starting at Paradox in 1998, his life has been one slice of history after another.

"The first thing when you say [it's been over 25 years] is, like, 'Holy shit! It's been that long?'" Andersson tells me over video chat. "But then again, I look at the screen here and realise, 'Okay, I have grey hair now, and I didn't have that when I started.'"

Now 51 years old, Andersson was a bright-eyed 20-something when he started work on his first Paradox game, Euro

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