BattleTech revival picks up Paradox as publishing partner as beta nears launch

BattleTech, the latest entry in the classic mech-based strategy series that made more than $2 million on Kickstarter last fall, has found a publisher in Paradox Interactive. Developer Harebrained Schemes announced the partnership in its latest update for campaign backers, alongside a new release date for the game’s first beta.

“Paradox will provide marketing support, localization services, and funds for additional testing in exchange for a cut of the game’s sales,” the development team wrote on Kickstarter. “This allows us to focus all our efforts on making a great game while maintaining complete creative control.”

Paradox Interactive makes sense as a collaborator on the new BattleTech, as Harebrained Schemes pointed out in the post. The long-running franchise is beloved by turn-based strategy gamers; its creator and Harebrained Schemes’ founder, Jordan Weisman, is also known for designing the MechWarrior games and working on the Shadowrun revival, other tentpoles of the genre. Paradox’s biggest successes are also in the strategy genre, with recent acclaimed projects including Pillars of Eternity — developed by Obsidian Entertainment — and Stellaris.

BattleTech will launch on PC sometime later this year, with Paradox’s involvement hopefully expediting the process. Harebrained Schemes maintains that the publishing partnership has nothing to do with the backer beta’s delay; originally set for March 15, the developer pushed the date back just before launch.

“The game’s looking good, playing well, and the team is firing on all cylinders but we need to take some more time to further test and bugfix our multiplayer code before confidently releasing the beta into your hands — that way, we can minimize networking issues and everyone can have a good time on day one,” the team explained.

Watch gameplay from the beta, out June 1, below; a new trailer for the full game is above, giving another taste of the latest take on the series’ futuristic robot battles.

Update: The backer beta is available June 1.