An interesting video that discusses Accretion. A common element in Paradox Games

This may apply to an extent to EU4 because it's their best selling, more casuals-friendly game and their foothold on the big market (they tried to bank on this with HoI4 and it's not that big of failure in this regard, maybe with Victoria 3 they'll fully make it ;) ).

They mainly tried to slowly introduce this with isolated, goofy attempts (like the CB proposal of shame, one of the most ridiculous things ever happened in the history of videogames) but there's still quite a big base of the old niche users that demands meaningful content and mechanics.

Obviously, with the releases of HoI4 and Star Wars' council simulator Stellaris and the future releases the balance will change soon and they'll be more free to release shitty content and dumb down simplify their creation and production chain. That's their goal anyway. If you aim at the market you must change your content accordingly. Spreadsheet simulator (aka Victoria 2) will always only sell that much. WAR OF THE LOTHIAN GEMS FREE!! will always sell more.

/r/paradoxplaza Thread Link - youtu.be