Why is Hoi4 So Popular?

Hearts of iron 4 was released on june 6th 2016 and it sold 200,00 copies after 2 weeks of release making it the most well received product in the paradox strategy collection… This was due to a variety of things mainly… A large marketing campaign An already dedicated fanbase A salvaged reputation And a good release of a previous game In this video we will follow the timeline of Hoi4 and the adjustments its made to stay relevant…
Notable Youtubers Mentioned: @TommyKay @Bokoen1 @iSorrowproductions @thespiffingbrit @FeedbackGaming

[sponko]

L

i need an editor

hmu on discord if you know how

[RunicRhino]

Never underestimate man's desire to paint maps and encircle units

[iSorrowproductions]

Pretty interesting, small little footnotes for added historical YT stuff. I made a video or two when the game came out but nothing special and definitely lost to time, I think I was just playing Canada and shitting on the game.

My channel probably only ever blew up from playing Kaiserreich in November 2016, I remember in December alone I’d refresh my YouTube and my sub count would go up in the hundreds sometimes thousands every refresh which was pretty astounding at the time.

And lastly my best ever month on YouTube in terms of views was actually last year around October right in the midst of Hoi4 A2Z which actually gave me a couple videos with over 1 million+ views alone (both the Denmark and Czech videos) overall this was definitely a blast from the past. Thanks for tagging me in it for the nostalgias.

[eli]

I think the reason why hoi4 is so good is because it's pretty fun to learn because you can figure out the mechanics yea it's a steep curve but the youtubers like bittersteel and feedbackgaming with there guides

[koneser]

To me Hoi 4 is still mostly kept with interest for it's modding community and diversity in what they provide, you can go from German won WW1 timeline which feels like an extra mode to the base game, be a warlord in postapocaliptic wasteland from Fallout and even genocide whole nations as talking horses from that one kids show. The level of replayablitly to this game that mods bring are for me and many others decide to still not touch grass.
Edit. I wanted to edit few spelling errors and lost my heart, bruh

[AndrewArminRyan]

it allows me to carve out my fascist dystopian fantasies

(most progressive hoi4 player btw)

[BritishRifleman]

Honestly, I think it's updates may be it's downfall, every update has made it more complicated, e.g, designers, supply, bigger focus tress, complex navy, army generals, resistance etc, there needs to be a "beginer mode" where resistance is AI controlled, navy is simple, generic tank designs, and auto supply

[Fumingbroccoli]

Isorrowproductions was the reason I started playing hoi4, if it wasnt for his video appearing in my recommended 4 years ago I would have never bought this game

[MsKm]

video title: "why is hoi4 so popular?"
video content: dosent even answer that qustion

[Omnicide]

As a total conversion modder, I cannot stress how much the modding scene of HOI4 has kept the game alive, and how much HOI4's mechanics facilitate modding in a way that no other Paradox GSG can. The focus tree system sets HOI4 apart from games like EU4 and CK3, turning it away from the more traditional map painting sandbox game and towards a more narrative-driven game. This is strongly reflected in the most popular mods - Kaiserreich, EaW, TNO, OWB all of these mods are incredibly popular because they provide compelling stories with cool alternative histories or fictional settings. While being less friendly to sandbox-style play (see: the game completely shits itself if you go alt-history and get weird shit like the Whites in Russia supporting the Stalinists in Spain because the game hardcodes the Soviets to be friendly to those, regardless of ideology), it more than makes up for it by providing a really amazing tool for crafting narratives. It's just a shame Paradox themselves didn't realise this until quite a few DLC's in.

TL;DR 6/10 game but 15/10 foundation for modding and modders are carrying this game like fucking Atlas.

[lostbladder]

I was obsessed with plastic soldiers as a kid. Hoi4 was the game I always wanted but never knew existed. When I found out about it, I got it. I opened it, thought it was too confusing, shelved it for a year, then learned how to play it and have been playing it a few times a week for the last 4 years.

[._Kilometres]

While it is mentioned. I feel like the array of mods available for HOI4 played a large part of it's success and because of that it'd should've been mentioned more within the video. For example, I would've never downloaded HOI4 if it wasn't for TNO and later Kaiserreich and TWR.

[bayonnaise]

I love when a game’s community is big enough for someone to create an analysis and essay of the game.

[davidlogan]

One thing not mentioned at all here is the incredible growth of the playerbase.

HOI IV averaged 10, 000 players post launch and is now at an average of 45, 000. Honestly incredible for any game to still have a growing base after all these years.

[sako]

For me its mostly the huge variety of high quality mods for the game. I have barely played Hoi4 Vanilla, but I've played a lot of Kaiserreich, Old World Blues or mods that expand the basegame like Road to 56.

[Man_of_Various_Cultures]

ngl drew is the youtuber who got me to play this game even though he barely played it himself because he showed me the amount of things i could do in this game and man, buying this game is one of the best decisions i have ever made.

[SilvrCoconut]

Small note, kaiserreich released much earlier than the workshop page might represent, since it actually had to swap pages. I remember there was a time where BOTH kaiserreich pages were on the top rated of the workshop cuz the old one still had that much interaction from before, which was released to the workshop Dec, 2016. Kaiserreich releasing at the end of 2016 also helped a lot because it really helped stifle how bad TFV was and keep the community playing the game, and was updated at the same pace as the game, it really felt like there was double the amount of updates as kaiserreich would drop a large update inbetween droughts of official content

[Tortellobello]

Main reason is that it’s focused on WW2 and recruit difficulty makes the game a bit easier for femboys, Soviet kids, Kaiserboos, that make up 70% of the community

[Toumahitoedits]

“Well, since not everyone can change history by their own hands. They can change it through the keyboard and a mouse instead.”

-Me who loves HOI4

[dapizzasnake]

This is my most played game at almost 600 hours, when I started seeing hoi4 content first time, there was only national unity. I got so good at single player I can win almost any war. Accept endseig, which I'm getting better and closer every try.