Audio Interview with Sid Meier

[Ginger_Ale]

[img=right]http://www.civfanatics.com/gallery/files/1/sidmeier_thumb.jpg[/img]Gamers with Jobs recently conducted a conference call with Sid Meier, Director of Creative Development for Firaxis. During the interview, Sid discusses "the rise of Facebook, the future of strategy gaming, and the inevitability of co-op" as well as "the future of social gaming."

Given Firaxis' announcement of Civilization Network for Facebook, the conversation gives pretty good insight into Sid's views on the direction of PC gaming and what the future may hold for the Civilization series.

The full conference call is available on Gamers with Jobs or from this link directly (51 MB in size). Though the file is 1:28:58 in length, Sid's first comments come at the 35:45 mark. If a transcript becomes available, we link to that as well.

 

[Soda7777777]

I don't understand why he refuses to make another Civ game that isn't in some other format.

 

[Brave Jay]

What's the deal? Is there ever going to be another civ, via civ rev2 or civilization 5? Is this a dead genre? I personally love civ and have for as long as its been around. I've always felt that there could always be more, and thankfully there have been some great mods. But its been a long time now and no word on a sequel to one of the greatest games of all time. Kind of sad.

 

[darkedone02]

It actually feels like he avoiding us or something...

 

[OnmyojiOmn]

Civ5 news or don't even post it.

 

[Dida]

Historically, they make a civ game every 5 years or so. So maybe we will hear about it around mid-2010???

 

[Double Stack]

Why make another Civilization game when Civilization IV is quite good and has a large following. There are tons of other games he can make that are different and fun instead of rehashing the same franchise. Personally, there are several games I would like to see them remake but no Civilization V for a while please.

 

[zellfaze]

I think I am good on Civ games for now. Perhaps if they come up with something extraordinary for Civ5, otherwise though, I say we just stick to Civ4.

I hope they make their CivNet game available outside of Facebook as well. I am not overly fond of the site...

 

[Camikaze]

I found two things encouraging in this interview.

1. Sid like ideas & suggestions from the game playing community, and plays with them in development.
2. Civ Network is not an attempt to dumb down the genre and Civ brand, so much as move it to another platform. So Sid hasn't lost his desire to make complex in-depth games.

However, this interview made me realise that, well, Civ 5 really isn't in the pipes at the moment. It isn't on Firaxis' plate. Sid has completely shifted to being a Facebook game designer. This is sad.

 

[toft]

From what I heard, and read in previous interviews, Sid is a one-game-at-a-time kinda guy, and he needs his fingers deep in the mold of every game. I doubt we will see civ5 within the next 3 or 4 years.

I would give this a chance if it is an actual game launched from facebook, but I doubt I will be spending any time on a browser game.

Historically, they make a civ game every 5 years or so. So maybe we will hear about it around mid-2010???

Back in the days of conventional gaming this timeline could be used to estimate the next installment, but as Firaxis' goal is to make money, and civ on facebook could attract a massive number of users, then that could be more worth to them than civ5 assuming they use microtransactions. This is business, and they just screwed their loyal fans.

 

[Soda7777777]

From what I heard, and read in previous interviews, Sid is a one-game-at-a-time kinda guy, and he needs his fingers deep in the mold of every game. I doubt we will see civ5 within the next 3 or 4 years.

I would give this a chance if it is an actual game launched from facebook, but I doubt I will be spending any time on a browser game.



Back in the days of conventional gaming this timeline could be used to estimate the next installment, but as Firaxis' goal is to make money, and civ on facebook could attract a massive number of users, then that could be more worth to them than civ5 assuming they use microtransactions. This is business, and they just screwed their loyal fans.

Well seeing how 2K games is going broke, it's kinda a no brainier they want more money.

 

[Silv Something]

Why make another Civilization game when Civilization IV is quite good and has a large following. There are tons of other games he can make that are different and fun instead of rehashing the same franchise. Personally, there are several games I would like to see them remake but no Civilization V for a while please.

Well, it might not make as much business sense to make Civ V as some facebook thing, but if they don't remake Civ IV then it will be outdated and computer systems will change and then there will be no more civ players! There are a lot more Civ IV players than Civ I players.

 

[Camikaze]

Surely, though, even if Civ Network will make more money for them, a PC game (Civ 5) would still be a rather lucrative market, seeing as there is really high demand, and will be even higher demand when people get hooked by Civ Network. I mean, the demand is there, even if facebook games are more lucrative, Civ 5 would definitely be lucrative on its own accord.

And a question: is CFC doing anything to latch onto the possibility of massive numbers of Civ Network fans attempting to find a help/discussion forum outside of Facebook? I would think it could bring in quite a few members...

 

[Retrospect]

Lets just hope this is either:

A project to inject a bit of cash into the company untill they make Civ5.

Or

A cunning way to attract more players into the Civ franchise with a watered down version of Civ with the plan of later hitting them with Civ5 that will be the most indepth and involved version so far.............

Oh well I guess there is no harm in hoping

 

[Silv Something]

That's just what I was thinking Retrospect!

 

[woodman6035]

I hope I'm wrong, but with the 3 consol systems out there that are all internet ready kinda make p.c. gaming obsolete. It does seem to be the trend. I played EA sports tiger woods golf for years, but they decided to get away from the p.c. version to consentrate on the wii etc... I think I'll always play games on the p.c. though.

 

[zellfaze]

PC Games will likely always have a market. Lots of people have PCs and lots of people like playing on their gaming machines. I personally prefer them to console games any day.

But now we are getting significantly off topic aye?

 

[Nekator]

Honestly i´m highly dissapointed with Sids whole FB Idea. I don´t like Facebook and the ideology behind it, as well as i don´t think that the majority of the people their will be a target for a complex game like Civilization. So the only chance is to water the series down for all the casual gamers...

 

[darkedone02]

if there not making a civilization 5 game, then i want a brand spakin new patch for civilization 4 that give me multi-core support! i demand to remove all this terrible lag!

 

[Soda7777777]

if there not making a civilization 5 game, then i want a brand spakin new patch for civilization 4 that give me multi-core support! i demand to remove all this terrible lag!

Yes we demand a new patch. The game needs some fixing. Especially when the game crashes in the late era of mods.