Paradox Interactive is best known for its complex PC grand strategy games, but it has also begun dabbling in console ports and the odd mobile game. Somehow they even managed to port their 4X game Stellaris to Xbox One and PS4. What strange times we live in. And now the company is reaffirming its intention to promote the game. [Playrion Game Studio, the developer of Airlines Manager, is Paradox's latest acquisition, bringing the number of in-house studios to eight, including the recently announced Paradox Tinto.

"Airlines Manager" launched in 2014, but it is unclear what Playrion will do with the Paradox umbrella. Charlotta Nilsson, COO of the publisher, said the acquisition will "allow us to continue to expand our business in new areas and bring more IP to mobile," and it is likely the team will work on existing Paradox games.

Paradox's current list of mobile games includes the Knights of Pen & Paper series, Prison Architect, and most recently Stellaris: Galaxy Command. The latter stood out because it was the first attempt to bring one of the company's internally developed large-scale strategy games to mobile, albeit with some major changes and a different studio. Then, the day after the beta launched, the game disappeared.

Gamebear was accused of stealing art from 343 Industries artists, and Paradox removed it for investigation; it went offline in October and did not reappear until June 30. It was not an auspicious start.

Investing in mobile games is generally considered quite risky. It is arguably the nastiest part of the gaming industry, rife with clones and terrible business models. And the games that are generally successful are not the ones that evoke the paradox of publishing huge, complex games that you sit and play for hours at a time. It's a bit odd, but I won't deny that I'd love to have "Crusader Kings" in my pocket.