The railroad and the telegraph. Steamships and the birth of flight. Mass conscription, emancipation and the campaign for women’s rights. The Victorian Age saw a world transformed by new technology, new philosophies and new ways of doing politics.

This tumultuous century springs to new life in Victoria 3.

After years of community requests and curiosity about the future of one of the company’s iconic games, Victoria 3 is one of the most highly anticipated grand strategy games in Paradox’s history. Victoria 3 is a society simulator set in a time of great change. Track the needs and desires of national populations, each group with its own political and material preferences. Conservative factions may resist political reform as growing numbers of tradespeople and intellectuals push for a greater say in how the nation is run. Trade a wide range of goods on a global scale to make sure that needs are met at home, because if people are hungry and disenfranchised, revolution beckons.

The rapid technological and societal changes of the Victoria Era allowed empires to compete in new lands with new means. The competition for resources and markets could turn fast friends into bitter rivals, as strong nations fought to extend and secure their power over weaker ones. Preserve and project your own empire in Sphere of Influence, a new expansion pack for Victoria 3, coming May 6, 2024.

Paradox Interactive’s grand strategy simulation takes a diplomatic turn, with Power Blocs at the center of Sphere of Influence. Bully, bribe or befriend other nations in an effort to build a group that can act together towards a common goal. Smaller nations can seek security in a co-operative compact with a greater power, while major nations bring new subjects and middle powers into their orbit.

Historical content in the expansion is dedicated to The Great Game, the nineteenth century competition between the British and Russian Empires for influence and power in Central and South Asia.

Features of Victoria 3: Sphere of Influence include:

• Fierce Competition: Use your Prestige to become a Great Power and create your own Power Bloc! Dominate other nations in a diplomatic arrangement to pursue common economic or ideological goals, whether promoting open trade around the world or spreading specific values to other nations.
• Power Bloc Customization:  Choose the identity and principles of your loose alliance, whether it be a group promoting ideological concerns like the Comintern, or an economy-oriented bloc pushing for cross-border market integration like the Zollverein. You can even customize colors and emblems for your bloc!
• “The Great Game”: New events, journal entries and decisions inspired by the Russian and British rivalry in Central Asia, and a new Objective - you can play as any of the powers central to that conflict, including Persia and Afghanistan. A newly redrawn map highlights the many competing interests in this frontier between empires.
• Foreign Investment: Invest in the economic development of countries outside of your direct influence, making a profit from their financial success.
• Nationalization: Start a Diplomatic Play to seize foreign assets in your country and prevent your wealth from going overseas.
• Subject Interactions: Adjust the payments from your vassals and protectorates, meddle in their internal politics and more!
• Interest Group Lobbies: Domestic interest groups will pursue foreign policy objectives, promoting amicable relations with some countries and hostility with others nations or even influence the development of friendly lobbies in other nations.
• Power Bloc Monuments: Build majestic monuments to emphasise your bloc’s influence and domination over world events.
• New Historical Flavor: New historical characters and companies, most centered on the Great Game content, as well as more events, new journal entries, Lobby related content, new clothing and event art.

Today also sees the release of the Trains Bonus Content Pack, a free pack for download by any who own Victoria 3. This pack includes ten new 3D models of trains players can see carrying goods and passengers on the map - five trains from the early days of steam and five trains from the golden age of rail expansion.

Victoria 3: Sphere of Influence will be available on May 6, 2024 at 29.99$ / 24.99£ / 29.99€.

Key Features:

• Infinite Replayability: Rewrite history as any of dozens of nations from the Victorian Era, from industrial powerhouses like Great Britain and Prussia to populous giants like Russia and Qing China or powers in waiting like Japan or Colonial Canada.
• Deep Societal Simulation: Cultural, economic and ideological divisions compete for power and resources in one of Paradox’s most detailed historical worlds.
• Tend Your National Garden: Nurture your population, educating it and preparing it for the future, guaranteeing their prosperity and improving their happiness.
• Wonders of the Industrial Age: Scientific and social progress give you the chance to improve the lives of your citizens.
• Sophisticated Economic System: Import goods to keep costs low, export goods to enrich your citizens, and then tax that wealth to advance your plans.
• Challenging Diplomacy: Maintain harmonious relations with your neighbors or provoke a crisis to grab valuable resources or force open new markets.
• Political Dealmaking: Manage competing interests in your government, opening up new reforms but risking revolution if key voices are not heard.
• Detailed and Living World: Cities grow and factories darken the landscape on a beautifully drawn map of the 19th century globe. Play any of dozens of nations from 183 and try to claim your place in the sun.

Victoria 3 is available for PC (Steam), Microsoft Game Pass and the Paradox Store at $49.99/£41.99/€49.99.