Urban Games' Transport Fever franchise might not be the most well-known strategy-sim around, but with over 10,000 Steam user reviews, I daresay it's bigger than some give it credit for. The first two games were published by Good Shepherd Entertainment, which is predominantly responsible for somewhat lesser-known fare. Certainly, the company is not the industry giant that Paradox Interactive clearly is.
Paradox Interactive, however, has officially secured publishing rights for the upcoming Transport Fever 3. While Urban Games' Steam post announcement stresses that this move has been made with players in mind, it's hardly surprising that the broader fanbase is meeting the news less than enthusiastically. Paradox, after all, has an approach to post-launch microtransactions that could alter the sequel's long-term trajectory toward a more nickel-and-diming approach. Not exactly a comforting thought.
Of course, Urban Games insists things won't change. And perhaps they won't—truly, we don't know. But one can hardly blame fans for looking at the considerable past precedent. We live in a world where obtaining the complete version of Stellaris, Paradox's big space opera strategy sim, requires forking over hundreds of dollars even when everything is on sale.
Contrast this with...
