Paradox Interactive has revealed the third Developer Diary for Europa Universalis 5, and this time it focuses on the trade and economics systems of the historical strategy game.
Trade and economics are closely tied to other parts of building an empire. For example, production is closely tied to what an empire can trade. Paradox has given players an in-depth look at the factors that tie into production and what raw materials exist. Having a grasp on these can set players up to succeed in trading.
Things like buildings can also help get the most of the natural resources around the player’s empire. Of course, these serve multiple purposes, and there is a wide range of building types. Of course, these include trade buildings like Marketplaces.
Europa Universalis 5 will be the first game in the franchise to have a dynamic trade flow between markets that are constantly changing and evolving. Markets have variables that will cause them to expand (and, on the flip side, retract).
These variables include things like Market Attraction and Market Protectionism. Players with a Market established in their empire can compete with other Markets in a larger area by improving these variables. This also includes prices, which players can directly adjust.
Prices are broken down so players can see the percentage of income they’re making as supply and demand shift over time. Of course, as time moves on and the world progresses into new Ages, Markets shift.
When it comes to trade, players will need to utilize their markets to buy and sell goods from other markets. Trade is an essential part of each empire, as no one area will have every natural resource to be found around the world (at least not from the start, anyway).
Players will need a Market in order to trade, and they’ll be limited to trading with markets within their range. It’s not only empires and nations that can trade, either — certain citizen classes can trade on their own.
All of these things come together to create a dynamic economic system that Paradox Interactive goes more in-depth about here in the Developer Diary. There’s also a video that breaks down these concepts, which players can watch below:
Europa Universalis 5 is set to release on November 4, 2025, on PC.