Crusader Kings 2 has sold one million copies

Paradox has announced that Crusader Kings 2—their soap opera grand strategy of medieval war, politics and intrigue—has sold over a million copies. It's always nice to see a PC exclusive hit the landmark, and in this case it's particularly notable. CK2 isn't an exciting military simulation , procedural multiplayer sandbox or tense psychological playground . It's a complex game about a map, a big list of people, and a working knowledge of the feudal system.

Perhaps more surprising is the other statistic released by Paradox: the game has an average playtime of just over 99 hours. That, when you consider all the people who still have it buried away in their pile of shame , amounts to a lot of people who must have played considerably more.

It must help that Crusader Kings 2 is still being updated—both with wide-ranging patches and new DLC packs. Up next is the game's seventh expansion, Charlemagne . It introduces a new, earlier start date and a story series centred around Charlemagne and The Holy Roman Empire.

If you want to see what makes the game so good, you should check out Rich's diary , detailing his exploits in CK2's Game of Thrones mod.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.