L i need an editor hmu on discord if you know how

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 KZfaq 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 KZfaq 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.

it allows me to carve out my fascist dystopian fantasies (most progressive hoi4 player btw)

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

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

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

+1 because its set a more modern era

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Simple it is good game

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.

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

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

Hey Sponko thanks for making this video, It is detailed on the whole history of HOI4 so far. I remember hating HOI4 on release and loving it after together for victory. I have no lifed this thing for 4352.6 hours... I stopped playing this thing religiously 2020. However looking forward to this game coming back and being fun.

One thing i hate about the 2 latest released DLCs is that thh new focus trees look nothing like the old ones. They are more messy and have fancy simbols , alot more fun*. Also, each individual DLC gives to much enfasy in one feature, making it disbalanced.

Amazing video, one thing thought is that you forgot to mention Alex and Drew, and drew even quit hoi at some point but still made a lot of views and personally he made me discover hoi IV and the whole community

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.

don't forget that no step back introduced the sickest trailer ever and also the ability to print man outof nothing (ideological loaylty spirit of the army)

Good video mate, off to waiting for the next one

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

I remember my first time watching OLD school TommmyKay. That day I knew I found something I would never forget

It allows me to restore the monarchies of the world

IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS VIDEO FOR A MONTH FINALLY!!!

“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

Honestly, I saw but never looked into HOI4 much until a friend started sharing and talking about Equestria at War. The MLP overhaul mod for the game that somehow puts a majority of the workshop content to shame with how much effort was put into it. It was then that I slowly branched out into the base game and a variety of other mods that take advantage of the game's workshop support. I got to experience good times with Hololive of Iron even. The VTuber overhaul mod that was constantly updated into something more and more packed with content and references. And now? I'm something of a HOI4 Modder myself. Currently working on figuring out how to get the AI to do what I want since documentation is a weak spot for the game. Still, it's been an emerging hobby for me. I suppose that's why I'd say DShakey has been a top favourite KZfaqr for HOI4 content. Seeing another person make his own mods to then showcase is entertaining as it is encouraging. Alex the Rambler has a nice casual flair to his videos and Pravus Gaming's uncondensed playthroughs of HOI4 mods was nice to catch onto smaller nuances of the mods as he figured them out. If there's ever to be a HOI5, it has a grand mountain to surpass now. I look forward to that day but will happily play HOI4 for a long time.

I appreciate the vince staples background music used in the vid, cheers :)

this really blew up good job sponk man

It shows such promise, it could be great, hoi4 keeps dlcing into what we wanted in hoi3 by 2052 with 15 more dlc it will be🙏

it will be living hell for first 10hrs. after you learn micro, macro, which stats do what, then the real fun begins

I love your channel keep up the great stuff!

Keep up the good work Sponko

the entire history of hoi4, i guess

I remember me and my friend waiting for a Turkey-focused DLC. We talked about how much players Paradox has in Turkey etc.

Isorrow's videos introduced me to hoi4

After watching a sneak peak it might actually be kinda good

One of the best games I have ever played! I have 1500+ Hours on it, with all dlcs. I must say that the Dlcs are the thing that are keeping the game alive. Most like also Kaiserredux and other best mods.

I think it's popularity also has to do with the mods, like holy hell they're so good. TNO was the reason why I even got hoi4 in the first place.

Just joined this community, and I’ve been enjoying it

for my CalmDownLevelUp got me into hoi4 back in 2016 and even pc gaming in general as back then i only had an xbox one, xbox 360, and a sega dreamcast

As someone who stopped in 2018 and started playing again last year. It was difficult to get back in since the game was completly different. I am still not into everything lol

It allows me to project my inner most fantasies without any repercussions. I hope they give us the options to commit war crimes in latest dlc.

Actually a good break down of the games popularity and its flaws.

I bought this game one month after it came out around Aug 9, 2016. It was my entry point to Paradox games. As a history fan, I quickly became enamored to what seemed like a endless amount of options and lots of control over everything. I seen many mods come and go (even tried making my own) and something about the gameplay being refined over the years has definitely made a difference. Compared to the base game, it’s mindblowning how the mechanisms used to work like supply and Air Force. Each new update on new mechanics also made me hesitant but I have come to appreciate like oil and supply lines

I think its interesting to note that a decent chunk of the fallout community started playing this game because of Old World Blues

Still confused on why they wouldn't add an Austrian focus tree for blood alone. It would make so much sense since italy was friendly to Austria in the interwar period and kinda wanted to protect it from Germany gobbling it up.

This game is like a sandbox about geopolitics on ww2 where we make decisions that are better than the historical leaders made. It is also fun, it is like playing a game and watching alternate history hub at the same time

I think the reason hoi4 became popular is because of its simplicity. there is some depths, but it's not a case of putting a foot into the water and instantly drowning like previous grand strategy games. you have relatively few and straight forward systems, which while they do have some weirdness to them, aren't apparent, and therefore it's not overwhelming. You get a few choice in each system at first, and get a pretty good idea of where it vaguely lead without having to read every step of the way. So the new player experience (at least at first not without 25 dlcs pilling up) a new player can learn and launch themselves into their first game, and look deeper into it for later games after seeing what went wrong instead of having a cliff to climb at game launch.

Cool video, for a game i burried 7000 hours in

2:54 as a Czech I feel anger

In my opinion what makes it great is, that it is a great strategy game that also allows (modding communities) to turn it into anything they want

I have been playing since HoI2 when I was 11 and I was honestly shocked when alot of my friends started to play HoI4. It's great having friends to play with in these games now.

If drew didn't pop up in my recommended in 2017, I would probably never play the game

I know your channel focuses more on HOI4, but I would love a similar deep dive into EU4. There has been a ton of creators and drama in the EU4 community and I would love to see what that looks like over the years. Edit: forgot to mention this was very well done and I enjoyed it. Great job.

ISP releasing kaiserriech videos was the reason I started playing in winter 2016. The funny thing is until this year I literally just had base hoi4 which I had bought for 5 bucks in a sale. To this day I have never played single player unmodded hoi4, with only 1 game of mp unmodded. I like other paradox games more, but alt history mods is where hoi4 shines for me, so it always has its place in my gaming rotation.

Your editing isn't too bad. However, I feel like the video was just summing up each DLC one by one without really diving too much into the analytics. Also Kaiserreich came out before 2018. The title could also be something more like how it rises because as you said the game hasn't recovered since 2018 which was actually the year I first saw the game on KZfaq. Anyone you have gained a sub and a like from the algorithm so you're doing a lot right.

Allows me to war crime my little ponnies (least rightwing furry)

No mention of TNO in the video? Good, 10/10 vid.

The replay value and possibilities is so great.

HOI4 is a very arcady and player friendly game that gives you freedom to lead a nation during the Second World War. Personally as someone who started from HOI2, HOI3 BI has so much more depth than HOI4. But I guess the simplicity of HOI4 attracted a much larger player base which is a big success to Paradox.

I feel like TNO also deserves a mention for setting a precedent that made total overhaul mods jump in quality.

Bruh, I have been playing this game since the week it came out. I remember bokoen's first nutshell video 😭

The no step back add was a masterpiece

Stop censoring.

Nice WW2 videos I think when Drew Durnil left that summed it up. Paradox games are a 60/40 community. 60% are history nuts and 40% are the MP guys who don't get why a game all about a quasi realistic WW2 sim isn't appealing to most people because some countries like France and Poland are fucked (as they should be). I think the meta stuff is what kills is most of all though, some MP dork goes and does a CAS only run, it ruins the illusion the WW2 4x is good. Plus the plane/navy/tank designers go way too far.

Very good video mr sponko

I knew I wasn’t crazy when ISP used to say Sorrows

tldr edgy teens

Bought this game, played for about 30 minutes and refunded this crap, there’s no way I’m stairing at a map and numbers for hours and hours trying to learn each and every detail about this game

Nice video bro, I was lokking for a video like that for ages 🤣, +1 subscribe.

7:07 a notification sound popped up here perfectly bleeping your swear lol

There is only so much content you can cover the numbers aren't going back up until there is a new game

As someone who recently got into it this year, the best way I can explain my addiction is that it’s a bit like gambling. The euphoria you get when your plan/gamble pays off is so sweet! To say nothing of the buildup that proceeds

Part of the reason hoi4 is so popular is a mixture of love for history and modding community, I haven't played vanilla hoi in quite some time

Great video. Honestly for me the DLCs have been a decent contribution to the game (yes I never bought Battle for the Bosphorus, how could you tell?) but the MP in Hoi4 which seems to actually be getting attention (they fixed getting reinforce memed.) and they even had a questionnaire for the MP community. But yeah for me MP with friends is why I love the game. Also personally it was RimmyDownunder who got me into Hoi4. I’ll always remember Peaceful Hitler.

It's so popular because it takes people 50 hours to figure out that they don't know what they are doing.

I've stopped playing Hoi4 maybe like 2 years ago and no real desire to pick it up again, but watching content on youtube is always fun.

I must be the only HOI4 player that actually LOVES naval in this game. I mean.. I did make TWO ultimate naval tutorials, one is 5 hours long lol...

The immersion and mods are just what makes hoi4 perfect (+ all the features in the vanilla game and DLCs)

I don’t even know or play this game but this video is so interesting

Drew deserves a mention for sure!

June 6 2016: Hoi4 released June 6 1944:💀

I haven’t even watched the video yet but I just wanted to say I’ve never played a hoi game and I don’t even have a pc but I love watching me some hoi. The day it comes out on console or I get a pc will be one of the best days

I have almost every dlc a part three song dlc, I really enjoy alot Heart of Iron IV and I don't find it very hard when you get the hand play with all the dlc and the update and new content aren't a downfall of the game in my opinion as they add new thing and tend to make it more realistic and I play also with mod one that I really suggest if you like the historical part is BICE (Black Ice) mod.

Drew Durnil is why i started playing Hoi4..

you didn't talk about the BEST mod of Hoi4 Equestria at war

I think another reason is because the amount of good mods and the pro mod stance

Artillery only game when? Lol cool video

I love this game with all my heart no matter how many times I rage or get pissed off at AI italy I have always come back

I mean, Bulgaria’s focus tree in Battle for the Bosporus allowed them to annex the ENTIRE BALKANS.

Great video

When you learn the navy system, subs go brrrrrr (legit subs and small cruiser/destroy fleets prolly 3 cruisers and 15 destroyers for sub patrols)

Chirchy’s my fav hoi4 youtuber

Death or Dishonor video was pretty artistic , yes countries like Romania deserved a much more atention since they was one of the countries to suffer the most in the ww2 , but still the intro for death or dishonor was pretty artistic .

i still wish we can use artillery again provinces not only in battles like those armored trains