Civilization 5 and DLC

How will the availability of DLC affect your decision to buy Civ5?

  • DLC makes me more likely to buy the game, I may buy DLC.

    Votes: 18 7.0%
  • DLC makes me more likely to buy the game, I will NOT buy DLC.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • DLC will not affect my decision to buy the game, I may buy DLC.

    Votes: 78 30.4%
  • DLC will not affect my decision to buy the game, I will NOT buy DLC.

    Votes: 44 17.1%
  • DLC makes me less likely to buy the game, I may buy DLC.

    Votes: 29 11.3%
  • DLC makes me less likely to buy the game, I will NOT buy DLC.

    Votes: 61 23.7%
  • I will not buy the game, because of DLC.

    Votes: 27 10.5%

  • Total voters
    257
You really haven't been paying attention. Back then, very few people honestly thought that civ5 would require steam to run. If you did, you would be told, "don't worry, there's no evidence that civ5 will require steam, so therefore it will not require steam". Then came the announcement that civ5 would require steam. I admit, I was among the people saying don't worry. But I learned my lesson then: even if there is no evidence for something, does not mean it won't happen. Now it's the exact same story all over again.

Paying attention to what? The fact that there were always 2 sides before the discussion came up regardless of whether Steam was going to be there or not? Or that the majority seems to be OK with Steam and that the minority is speaking out against it according to the statistically inaccurate polls due to polling bias? Anyways all that doesn't matter now.

What matters is that there are people against steam, and for steam. Just like there are people against DLC and for DLC. It's not the exact same story. It has the potential to be the exact same. If it were, it'd be like this: "Civ5 will offer DLC." End of story. Just like "Civ5 will require Steam." From those 4 words a huge nuclear explosion of posts will be born. But it wouldnt get any further than the discussion here we are having right now. Will DLC conflict with modding. We don't know yet. Will DLC cost money or not? We don't know yet. Sure we can assume DLC costs money because 80% of it out there does these days. Sure we can assume Civ5 has DLC because 40% games has it these days. but then again, these are not 100% guarantees.

@tom2050: Like many have pointed out, its all about the money. iPad is about the money. Its not about revolutionizing the computing industry no matter how many people say it to believe it. That new video card is all about the money. When everything entertainment is about money, we need to talk about the other things. Otherwise, like I've said before, this entire discussion is moot because it's been decided and we don't have that information so we cannot assume the details. Speculation generally leads down the worst possible scenario.
 
And people like you are taking the attitude "there's nothing to worry about because there's no evidence there's something to worry about". I honestly can't believe that you don't see the similarities in the progression of these two issues. Does that gaurantee the positive? No. But it does not gaurantee the negative either, a fact which you seem content to ignore.

Before it was announced that steam was required, we thought civ5's distribution would be just like civ4's. Many of us learned from that mistake. Now you seem to be content to assume that civ5 will be just like civ4 post-release. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
 
And people like you are taking the attitude "there's nothing to worry about because there's no evidence there's something to worry about". I honestly can't believe that you don't see the similarities in the progression of these two issues. Does that gaurantee the positive? No. But it does not gaurantee the negative either, a fact which you seem content to ignore.

Before it was announced that steam was required, we thought civ5's distribution would be just like civ4's. Many of us learned from that mistake. Now you seem to be content to assume that civ5 will be just like civ4 post-release. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

All I am doing is balancing out the difference between assuming the worst and understanding that IF it happens, it will happen regardless of what I've said or predicted. Rather than jump into what "we" means for you, a 2005 game compared to a 2010 game t be released will generally be different. Just like how Call of Duty MW2 was thought to be a exclusive that wouldnt be on Steam. Just like how MMORPGS wouldn't make it on Steam.

You look at history and reference it to predict the future. Your historics only draw upon the civilization series and doesn't look at the industry picture. I don't even care about the history of game distribution enough to use it as a reference point. My point is that its unpredictable unless you work for 2K/Fraxis and know exactly what makes sense for them or not.
 
Given that the only games I've played are SimCity 3000, SimCity 4, Star Trek: Bridge Commander, Civilization IV, Railroads, and Secret Files: Tunguska, I don't really have a lot to go on. I do remember the downfall of Cities XL, which turned out to be worse than the fears of even the greatest pessimists. There's also SimCity Societies, which represented a betrayal to every single fan of the SimCity series.
 
well the mongols, zulus and babylon are missing from the civ list..
 
It really does look like a strong confirmation that DLC is going to be sold.

Where is there anything like this? I'm sorry, I just don't see it. Please quote what you think Strongly Confirms the existence of additional pay-for DLC beyond the Deluxe Edition.

I totally admit its plausible, but I see no confirmation here.
 
Where is there anything like this? I'm sorry, I just don't see it. Please quote what you think Strongly Confirms the existence of additional pay-for DLC beyond the Deluxe Edition.

I totally admit its plausible, but I see no confirmation here.

I had the same impression as you at first, but then I read a little closer. From said website:

Gamers who pre-order any version of Sid Meier's Civilization V from Steam will receive the downloadable bonus content, Cradle of Civilization Map Pack: Mesopotamia, for free when the game is available.

That does at least sound like a strong indication that the map pack will be available as paid downloadable content. Which again leads me to believe that several other things might be as well. For instance Babylon. Releasing new civs as DLC sounds very plausible, especially since creating graphics/animations probably won't be trivial for modders.
 
Where is there anything like this? I'm sorry, I just don't see it. Please quote what you think Strongly Confirms the existence of additional pay-for DLC beyond the Deluxe Edition.

I totally admit its plausible, but I see no confirmation here.

Sid Meier's Civilization V players will enjoy the benefits of the Steamworks' features included in all PC versions such as auto-updating, Steam Achievements, downloadable content, multiplayer matchmaking and more.

Thought it doesn't strictly say selling the DLC, when DLC is spoken about in context of steam or steamworks, it is usually through microtransactions. It's what Valve advertise to developers in this brochure which I linked in another thread. http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/SteamworksBrochure2010.pdf

I've put the question to 2K Greg whether this is confirmation that DLC is going to be sold, so I'm not claiming it as fact.

It also makes so much sense that they would be thinking about selling civs as DLC. I think in the grand scheme of things, we hear people grumble about DLC but many people still purchase it. If there's a demand for it, and I bet a lot of the Steam usage and purchase reports Valve provide directly to devs/publishers as part of their contract help confirm this, then there is great incentive to produce and release DLC. And production of professional-quality civs is where the devs have one of the biggest advantage over modders IMO, making DLC in that area fairly compatible with the modding community.

If there were to be DLC like individual civs, you can almost bet they'll be advertising them constantly in the game as well. Even to the point where the civs will be in the selection list but greyed out because they're locked, with a shiny "purchase" button beside them.

I'm being fairly cynical - it's just honestly what I'm expecting to see over the next year or two though. I do hope I'm wrong.
 
Are there games or game companies in the business today that limit themselves to giving away DLC for free? In other words, that do DLC but only do it for free? If the answer is no, then aren't we 99% sure that 2K will do paid DLC for CIV V?

Once this is confirmed. I predict we will then move without interruption to a heated discussion about whether there will be in fact a so-called "stream" of "paid dlc" for CIV V and whether this might be in fact actually good for the game.

KERAAACK AJIGAJI GURRRGAH My God, what's that noise?
That would be the sound of the DLC goalposts moving....
 
and whether this might be in fact actually good for the game.

I agree. That's most probably where the debate will shift to.
 
Sid Meier's Civilization V players will enjoy the benefits of the Steamworks' features included in all PC versions such as auto-updating, Steam Achievements, downloadable content, multiplayer matchmaking and more.

Ok, fair enough.

I wouldn't say conclusive, but indicative.

It would be nice to get a straight answer from 2K as to whether this just means the main game/expansions or separate bite-size, and whether such dlc will be free or for-sale.

I don't like the idea of separate bite-size for-sale DLC for Civ5. No problem if its free.

If they must have a stream of bite-size DLC for sale, I hope they limit it to standalone scenarios that do not affect the core game.

Are there games or game companies in the business today that limit themselves to giving away DLC for free? In other words, that do DLC but only do it for free?
Well, it depends on how you consider patches.

Some patches have major new content. eg: Dawn of War 2 introduced an entirely new game mode free, and made major changes to the game through patches
Plus you got extra stuff for your factions free (and new maps, etc) when the expansion came out even if you didn't buy the expansion (to avoid compatibility issues)

Stardock had major new free content in various patches/updates for Galciv/Galciv2.

Plenty of games issue new maps and scenarios for free in updates.

So I don't think we can rule extra content being free out completely.

I can see for example that they might not ship any scenarios in the core game, but release a stream of them for free.
 
I doubt we'll be paying for patches. 2K and Firaxis would never hear the end of complaints if they did that. :lol:
DLC, taking its usual meaning (hint hint Ahriman ;)), is almost certainly not going to be free. If they ever do release something free, it will be after they've sold a heap of DLC so that giving some free DLC looks like an awesomely generous gift, making us all think Firaxis/2K are awesome for being so kind. Ack, I'm being cynical again. :D

You know that feeling you get when you're terribly sick, where you think how terrible it was that you took for granted all those times you were in perfect health? I think we've been incredibly lucky with games like civ4 and how much we've gotten out of them. It's only now we're catching up to what we really ought to be giving to the devs/publishers (and now Valve too, sadly :() what they deserve for bringing us so much entertainment. We've been spoiled. he he, I'm probably blowing things way out of proportion, right?:king:
 
It doesn't necessarily mean it will be DLC that must be purchased, it could be occasional free DLC packs. You never know if 2K Games will push Firaxis to be a nice company and offer some free stuff to the consumer. I know that last sentence sounds like non-sense for such a gesture to even be considered by a 2K like company, but I suppose we can hope it's at least possible.

They would be smart to offer some free DLC... it would probably encourage some people to look past the rude comments made against certain countries, and the disrespect towards Ottoman Empire, and past the Steam thing, and purchase the game because of it.
 
Sorry guys but free DLC is the gateway to paid DLC. I predict there will be both for CIV V. The problem with hoping that paid DLC won't affect the core game is that one may truly wish it did -- i.e. it will feel like something is missing from the core game.
 
You have to trust that 2K/Firaxis will be hoping that DLC and modding will work in a way to encourage more people to buy DLC (if it is purchase DLC) to play mods made with specific DLC. It is an obvious ploy using modders to deepen their pockets. No one should put 2K past using something as such.

I mean, look at 2K/Take-Two (one and the same, per Greg), they put Porn in one of their games, and then blamed it on the GTA modding community. One of the most pathetic things a company could do. They don't give a damn about anyone here, they would throw you under the bus to take your house if it was a possibility.

2K Greg and Liz are more of a PR cleanup attempt if anything, to try to fix the image of their bad past. Although they were probably around back then also, which in case means the companies ideals are just fractured.
 
I should add; the one thing which still makes me think they might not get too heavily into DLC, even pay-for DLC, is that Civ has a business model of heavy sales of expansions.

Any large amount of for-pay DLC is likely to cannibalize revenue from expansions.

If they started creating and selling off extra civs through DLC, then they would have removed a major selling point of an expansion.
 
I should add; the one thing which still makes me think they might not get too heavily into DLC, even pay-for DLC, is that Civ has a business model of heavy sales of expansions.

Any large amount of for-pay DLC is likely to cannibalize revenue from expansions.

If they started creating and selling off extra civs through DLC, then they would have removed a major selling point of an expansion.

They would make extra money in expansions for it would be accumulated DLC with probably major content changes.
 
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