Paradox Interactive is getting a new boss: Deputy CEO Mattias Lilja will take over from current CEO Fredrik Wester in January 2027, a move Paradox said “is a natural evolution of how the company is already led.”

“My plan was never to be CEO for life. The goal was to build the foundation before passing the baton on for the next chapter in the company’s journey,” Wester said in today’s announcement.

“Since I returned as CEO, we’ve streamlined our strategy, rebuilt our pipeline and developed our commercial offering. Mattias has had a central role in laying this foundation, and now is the right time to hand over. Given his experience and vision, he is exceptionally well positioned to take the company to its next level.”

As his statement implies, this is his second tenure as Paradox CEO: He held the position from 2009 to 2018, when he resigned and was replaced by Ebba Ljungerud. But Ljungerud’s tenure was rocky, and she resigned in 2021 over “differing views on the company’s strategy going forward,” at which point Wester returned to the role.

In many ways, Lilja has been calling the CEO shots for a few years now anyway, while Wester’s focus has increasingly been on Paradox’s “long-term development and goals.” And he, like Wester, is also a returnee: He left the company in 2020 after five years in various executive roles, but returned in 2021 along with Wester as “chief of staff.” Lilja’s LinkedIn profile says his primary duty was to “support the Paradox CEO in leading the executive team, aligning the strategic plan with the day to day operations,” and that he would “act as the stand-in for the CEO when needed.”

“I approach this role with great humility,” Lilja said. “Paradox has a unique DNA that has made us one of the greats in deep and engaging strategy and management games. Now we’re stepping up the pace: we will make further investments in our core business, push the boundaries of our game design, work even more closely with our loyal players, develop more and better tools and services that benefit both modders and players, and continue to sharpen our ways of working and our organisation, with player value in focus.”

Reaction among the Paradox community on Reddit seems guarded at this point, which is perhaps understandable given how it went the time the company got a new CEO. PC Gamer’s Fraser Brown took a deep dive into that in his 2024 report on “the Dark Age of Paradox Interactive,” which includes thoughts from Lilja on the “challenges” of success and what he saw as the future of Paradox.

Even back then, Lilja was clearly helping chart the company’s course, and there’s also some optimism among Paradox follower in the fact that he seems likely to carry on in Wester’s footsteps—and an apparent understanding that Wester has been eyeing the door for a while now anyway.

Lilja will take over as Paradox CEO on January 4, 2027.