What year does a HOI4 game end?

As an avid HOI4 gamer and content creator, I get asked often – what timeframe does a Hearts of Iron IV game cover and is there an endpoint? The default span is 1936-1948, modeled after WWII, but there‘s no strictly defined stop even after 1948. You can essentially guide your nation indefinitely if you wish!

Default HOI4 Game Timeframe: 1936-1948

In a standard HOI4 game, you‘ll be leading a nation from 1936 (or 1939) to 1948. This roughly captures:

• The build up to WWII (1936-1939)
• WWII itself (1939-1945)
• The immediate post-war aftermath (1945-1948)

So you‘ll manage pivotal events like the German expansion, Pearl Harbor, D-Day, the Allied pushback, eventually leading into the post-war redrawn map of Europe and world.

Here‘s a quick visual timeline showing what key history HOI4 aims to model within its 1936-1948 span:

As you can see, 1936-1948 allows you to experience a ton of WWII action through HOI4. And the game calculates your final score at 1948, judging how well you performed based on your nation‘s strength after guiding it through the war.

No Hardcoded HOI4 End Date – Play Past 1948 If You Wish

Now here‘s an important point – HOI4 has no strictly defined endpoint or last date! The development team has intentionally left it open-ended.

So while the default game experience spans 1936-1948, covering WWII, technically you can keep playing for as long as you want even beyond 1948. The game won‘t automatically end your campaign at any point (unless you lose of course!).

In my current France playthrough for example, I‘m actually in 1951 and still going strong! Now gameplay does get stale eventually without much left to research or accomplish. But the main takeaway is there‘s no hardcoded final stop date that closes out your sandbox.

Why 1948 Cutoff By Default?

If HOI4 lets you play indefinitely, why end the default experience at 1948 then?

Well as a game focused on recreating WWII, the late 1940s is a natural endpoint for the historical conflict itself and the immediate aftermath. By 1948, Germany/Japan had surrendered, borders were redrawn, so it formed a reasonable closure for judging your wartime performance.

HOI4 isn‘t designed to accurately model later Cold War era politics or events. So rather than simulate speculative future history, 1948 allows focusing gameplay on WWII itself. But you‘re welcome to keep going yourself into the 1950s or beyond!

Post-1948 Gameplay Limitations

If you do push past 1948, gameplay does become more limited and stale over time:

• No new technologies get added to research
• Historical events won‘t fire like WWII events did
• Your available national focuses will run out

So just keep in mind HOI4 isn‘t built to provide accurate future history past 1948. But if you just enjoy the core mechanics, you can essentially guide your nation as long as you want!

Average HOI4 Game Length

According to gamer statistics aggregated by HowLongToBeat.com, here‘s a look at average HOI4 game length:

• Main Story (1936/1939-1948): 49.5 hours
• Completionist Campaign: 85.5 hours

So if you‘re looking for a quick WWII romp, you can finish in around 50 hours. But those pursuing maximum gameplay completing all missions can spend as much as 85+ hours on their HOI4 journey!

In my hundreds of hours playing HOI4, I‘ve definitely had games run 60+ hours and some close to 100. Especially when you play with historical focus off!

So in summary – while the default end is 1948, HOI4 truly has no final stop date if you wish to continue playing. Let me know if you have any other questions! I‘m always happy to provide advice to fellow HOI4 fans.