Prison management sim Prison Architect has been acquired by Paradox Interactive for an undisclosed sum, which the publisher itself has announced today by press release. The publisher also revealed that, along with its continued support for the game, it would begin developing new games in the Architect series. Furthermore, with Prison Architect bought by Paradox, the original creators at Introversion Software are moving on to other projects.
Paradox Interactive revealed all this in a press release, saying that it had picked up all rights and assets for Prison Architect and the IP from Introversion. Paradox now owns, and will immediately begin supporting, all versions of the game on PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Mac, and Linux, as well as the Prison Architect mobile edition and any future ports to other platforms. The publisher also stated that it would “explore opportunities” with the Architect IP, and are planning new games in the series. Presumably one of these will be Prison Architect 2, but other non-prison ideas would be equally interesting.
Ebba Ljungerud, CEO of Paradox Interactive, said that “I believe the considerable player base of Prison Architect will be excited to see where we can take the game next, and we’re eager to explore development of potential new games based off of the ‘Architect’ IP.” She then added, “we promise to exercise good behavior with this cherished title going forward.” Paradox would add the title to its popular management games catalogue, which includes Cities Skylines and Surviving Mars.
As for the original developers at Introversion, they are no longer involved with the game, but seem happy to be moving on after “nearly a decade” supporting Prison Architect. “I think we’ve taken Prison Architect just about as far as we can,” said Mark Morris, Co-founder of Introversion, “and we’re all eager to see where a team like Paradox can take it next.” The Introversion team are now working on new games, which Morris simply says, “more on that soon.”
