Asia-only Civilization MMO in the works

CivCube · Oct 25, 2012

Well, that's uh, rather strange:

Some Gawker website said:
Sid Meier's famous Civilization games are all about bold land grabs and spreading one's influence all over the globe. So it makes sense for publisher 2K Games to finally unveil an MMO version of the long-running series.

A press release sent out today announced that Civ developer Firaxis will be working with XLGames, the Korean studio responsible for hit online game Lineage to create Civilization Online. The online-only game will be launching in Asian markets sometime in the future. Excerpts from the press release follow:

Civilization series creator, Firaxis Games, and XLGAMES have been lending their respective expertise and vision to developing Civilization Online. Mr. Song is highly regarded for his integral role in creating the popular Korean MMORPG, Lineage, which has attracted 43 million players. For this project, he is leading a team of more than 100 people in Seoul, making it one of the most ambitious online game development initiatives taking place in South Korea.

"Over the last four years, we have been focused on creating an ambitious portfolio of online and social games with some of the most revered companies in Asia such as Tencent in China, Nexon Korea Corporation and XLGAMES in Korea, GREE and CyberAgent in Japan," added Hubert Larenaudie, president of Take-Two Asia. "The consumer response for NBA 2K All Stars and NBA 2K Online has been very encouraging. With the upcoming releases of Pro Baseball 2K and Civilization Online, Take-Two is uniquely positioned to delight gamers throughout Asia."

Not sure if it will actually be an MMO, to be honest. This sounds like another CivWorld, just on a different platform. I'd be surprised if there anything more "online" than that.

The_J · Oct 25, 2012

No idea how this is going to work, but interested to see what they'll produce.

Crafty Bison · Oct 25, 2012

It's tough enough to get mp to work as it is. Wonder how much of the game will be sacrificed to make it work as an MMO.

HeraldtheGreat · Oct 25, 2012

CivCube said:
Well, that's uh, rather strange:

Not sure if it will actually be an MMO, to be honest. This sounds like another CivWorld, just on a different platform. I'd be surprised if there anything more "online" than that.

Massively Multiplayer Online game.
________________________________
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Gucumatz · Oct 25, 2012

Interesting - But I feel like Multiplayer in regards to civ has always been the least focused... but the most natural evolution of it [Since Humans can do so much more with tools than AI can].

Might lead to more experience/better interfaces in our multiplayer system and better multiplayer experience in a Civ 6

Drakarska · Oct 25, 2012

Lineage and Lineage 2 were both decent MMO's when I played them. How they're going to incorporate Civ in that platform leaves me scratching my head. Not to mention the fun lack of info regarding 2k's involvement leaves me wondering how much it would cost, micro's, and a whole host of other things that i'm pretty sure that 2k will get you to sell the house for. This does not bode well for the future of the franchise.

Rooftrellen · Oct 25, 2012

It may be only in Asia due to how games tend to work on that side of the world. It's quite common for people to pay very small amounts for almost anything, including playing time, which is something that, even with the DLC infested gaming world over here, just wouldn't fly.

I would be interested to know how it will work. You'd probably save up (or buy) moves, allowing you to move units or control cities...but how would it work with regards to number of players? A single map certainly can't hold everyone.

BSPollux · Oct 25, 2012

Well, if they asked me how to do it, my first idea would be to make it like some sort of huge 'Islands' type of map. Every player gets his own landmass plus AI-controlled 'victim' islands. Each player gets a coordinate in a virtual grid and no actual worldmap is needed.

Somewhat like all these spacegames (ogame etc).

Managing your country itself would look similar to Civ, wars would be fought when one players sents an invasion force to another players island.

Most likely it wont be anything like that, just wanted to point out there are many ways to do it

Schalke 04 · Oct 25, 2012

BSPollux said:
Well, if they asked me how to do it, my first idea would be to make it like some sort of huge 'Islands' type of map. Every player gets his own landmass plus AI-controlled 'victim' islands. Each player gets a coordinate in a virtual grid and no actual worldmap is needed.

I think the same. It could be like the browser-game tribalwars, just a little bit more Civilization-ish.

True_Candyman · Oct 26, 2012

If i was gunna make a civ mmo i would have it so you start with however many human players you desire, 8, 12, 20 etc. Then it plays out like a normal civ game only with a turn timer, and everyone taking their turns simultaneously. Any movement issues or others would be resolved by a turn by turn rolling player order.

Should people leave they will be replaced by an AI, and other players will be given the choice to join if they wish in their place.

And then obviously to make it like nicotine, you start off with just a few civs and unlock more. And you can unlock various new UU's and UB's and UA's for all your civs too and choose the combinations you prefer.

Alexastor · Oct 26, 2012

I think it might be a modified Civ 5 with a couple of free civs, and maybe UUs and new civs as mini DLC models? Maybe even skins?

anandus · Oct 26, 2012

Crafty Bison said:
It's tough enough to get mp to work as it is. Wonder how much of the game will be sacrificed to make it work as an MMO.

Well, they already have a fully working MMO-civ-game, of course.
But I don't know how much this will resemble that.

Danei · Oct 26, 2012

I hope this means they're getting the art designers from Lineage to draw Maria Theresa like a sexy elf.

Bechhold · Oct 26, 2012

Anything to not reboot the series to a more motivated, micro/macro oriented game I guess.

dexters · Oct 27, 2012

The_J said:
No idea how this is going to work, but interested to see what they'll produce.

I'm quite a bit concerned it's going to be on a F2P model where you spend real money to buy extra turns or bonuses and what have you. That's a very strong model for Asian MMOs and online games right now as well as mobile games from Asian/Korean/Japanese devs. GREE was mentioned and they're a big played in F2P. It would well be CivWorld for mobile only free of Facebook, and that's fine.

F2P is all the rage in the 'industry' right now. All the big devs see it as 'free money' just as many saw MMO's as free money right around Everquest got big.

I think its a bubble. I'm just more concerned about implications for Civ6 if this is a success.

I am hoping Firaxis and 2K has enough sense not to bring F2P into the mix. I think it will wreck the core game. Civilization remains a SP centric game for many people, and SP games too are considered 'old hat' in the industry right now.

All the big devs and publishers all want multiplayer only games so they can charge addicted fans to 'season passes' or charge them just to be able to play online. You have Call of Duty to thank for that.

The_J · Oct 27, 2012

I absolutely agree, to 100%.
But there's hope. They already have CivWorld. It's free 2 play, it's on Facebook, and we haven't heard really anything about it for some time, so it's probably not that successful.
So there's hope (from my side) that whatever they'll produce, that it will be different from that. I don't think the chances are high (at least about the F2P part), but at the moment there's nothing really set, so we'll have to wait.

Rooftrellen · Oct 27, 2012

dexters said:
I'm quite a bit concerned it's going to be on a F2P model where you spend real money to buy extra turns or bonuses and what have you. That's a very strong model for Asian MMOs and online games right now as well as mobile games from Asian/Korean/Japanese devs. GREE was mentioned and they're a big played in F2P. It would well be CivWorld for mobile only free of Facebook, and that's fine.

F2P is all the rage in the 'industry' right now. All the big devs see it as 'free money' just as many saw MMO's as free money right around Everquest got big.

I think its a bubble. I'm just more concerned about implications for Civ6 if this is a success.

I am hoping Firaxis and 2K has enough sense not to bring F2P into the mix. I think it will wreck the core game. Civilization remains a SP centric game for many people, and SP games too are considered 'old hat' in the industry right now.

All the big devs and publishers all want multiplayer only games so they can charge addicted fans to 'season passes' or charge them just to be able to play online. You have Call of Duty to thank for that.

I don't think that model can be very successful on this side of the world. While you do see microtransactions quite a bit, people want to come out with something to show for it, at least in the west.

In Asia, you can sell turns, time in game, etc. and people will pay, even if they don't get anything "physical" in the game.

I'd even say this is one of the reasons the f2p model is becoming more successful in online games. People will pay $15 a month $1 at a time for new (and often better) armor, weapons, flags, outfits, what have you, but they won't pay it just to play. Of course, a bigger deciding factor in this is that they can get more of your money with this model than the basic subscription model, but still, people on this side of the world like to have something to "show" for their money.

Even if it does become a huge success, I doubt it will affect Civ6 at all. The audience is a different one.

I am more concerned about how the trials with DLC will affect Civ6, because it fits both a model of making more money than with expansions (you pay more on a per civ basis AND the DLC doesn't need to include new techs, wonders, era, mechanics, etc.) and a model that won't bother the normal American or European player.

Fiddlin Nero · Oct 29, 2012

No ones asking the question about what 'Asian market only' means? Can you limit any online game to a geographic area?
I can imagine not building a global map until necessary. Each player's world would be there own island/valley/patch of prairie and each player's world would expand as conquest and tech allowed.
The challenge is pacing, how can I get addicted to a game unless i can do an all nighter? I don't see how if I'm restricted in turns a day?

The_J · Oct 29, 2012

Fiddlin Nero said:
No ones asking the question about what 'Asian market only' means? Can you limit any online game to a geographic area?

Theoretically possible, because it's known which Internet Service Provicers own which IPs, and therefore it's possible to allow only certain IP ranges for a game.

But the solution will probably be simpler: I'd guess they'll just not make an English translation (or a translation into any other western language). That should be a big enough problem for most people in the west.

Rooftrellen · Oct 29, 2012

The_J said:
Theoretically possible, because it's known which Internet Service Provicers own which IPs, and therefore it's possible to allow only certain IP ranges for a game.

But the solution will probably be simpler: I'd guess they'll just not make an English translation (or a translation into any other western language). That should be a big enough problem for most people in the west.

There are plenty of games without a translation into another language, and I do imagine that's the plan.

The game will be made with the Asian market in mind and be unlikely to attract the westerners, making it Asia only in that there will be no support for languages like English, Spanish, or French due to the likely costs versus the small rewards.

Asia-only Civilization MMO in the works

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