Civilization V Demo Release Date: 21st of september

[Churchdown Yank]

The demo's not made for us. The demo is for people who haven't made up their minds yet or don't know anything about Civ.

No Early Sneaky Peeky for you!

The demo is for people who will never read this.

 

[Thormodr]

this is lame... are they scared people will play the demo and cancel their pre-orders?
i was hoping to play the demo and decide on whether to pre-order or not... it's rather important since the pre-orders have the bonus goodies. if i wait for the demo, then i can't get in on the pre-order goodies...

I doubt 2K games is scared that people will cancel their pre orders after playing the demo.

Likely, they are worried that civ noobs will try the demo out and if it is buggy, they will automatically tune it out because of that. It could amount to a fair amount of lost sales.

People that pre-order have already pretty well committed to the game anyway.

 

[Calouste]

Well that settles it. The only question for me was "will it work on my comp?" Old course of action: find out, pre-order. New course of action: pre-order, find out, upgrade computer if necessary.

Not even joking.

Course of action: pre-order, play in strategic view only if the graphics card can't handle the normal view. Upgrade laptop when the ones with the recommend graphics card hit a decent price level (probably about 6 months or so)

 

[Infiltrator]

This is of course, a marketing decision. If 2K told Firaxis to prep the demo in 7 days, they'd have it ready in 7 days.

Make no mistake about it - this was a conscious decision - 2K deducted that the average person who's never played Civ before would get scared/demoralized by the complexity and be less inclined to buy it after they try it.

Trying to sell us the story how the demo has to be ready and developed like a real game (and making it look like its some sort of time issue) is actually quite infuriating. You think that people who play civ are troglodytes, like the average Call of Duty kid who you can sell any story to?

 

[Esckey]

Everyone who has preordered the game and doesn't care about the demo--people like me--would be very unhappy if that were to happen.

It makes no sense for a company to actually postpone a scheduled release to accomodate a few people's desire to have a demo before the release, whatever the reason.

Well I don't want them to postpone it, for any reason, but I'm not gonna cry foul if they do.

 

[Sonereal]

Trying to sell us the story how the demo has to be ready and developed like a real game (and making it look like its some sort of time issue) is actually quite infuriating. You think that people who play civ are troglodytes, like the average Call of Duty kid who you can sell any story to?

Hearts of Iron 3, which released a demo only three days before release. EUIII six days before hand. Victoria 3, three days prior. Supreme Commander 2, four days.

So, releasing the demo the day of release is pretty....weird.

If you want to hear a case about a demo being totally unpolished, look no further then the series-killing game, Empire Earth III.

 

[EmpireOfCats]

I would assume that any boxed version you buy with discs won't actually have the actual game on it any more.

Speaking from my Left 4 Dead Steam experiences, yes they do, because people in some places don't have flat rates and fast Internet connections. You install the basic game out of the box, which is a lot, lot faster, and then it goes online and checks to see if there is a patch and installs it right away. If not, they could hand you a slip of paper with the code number on it.

I don't know what the time frame is these days for getting the gold master ready for shops on September 21 (U.S. version). Anybody?

Let's say, for the sake of an argument, eleven days. So on September 10, somebody from 2K goes through the rooms of Firaxis, and whoever still is coding gets their hands smacked with a ruler. The last build -- which better be stable -- is sent to the Very Big CD Factory (or whatever) for processing. Since the demo is supposed to be just like the game (well, duh), this master should just need to be "crippled", sent to Steam, installed on their servers, tested as part of the Steam environment, and then made available to us, the hungry masses. Just how long can that take?

Maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about here. But this does make it seem to this interested unqualified observer that not everything is going the way it should have been.

 

[2K Greg]

I would assume that any boxed version you buy with discs won't actually have the actual game on it any more. It will merely allow you to download it on to your computer from Steam. So, they could rush out the boxes to all the retailers and still have the game in an unfinished state. As long as the game is good to go on the 21st, they don't care.

Not releasing a demo seems to indicate that the game isn't ready yet. I suppose it's better to delay the demo as they could lose $$$ with a buggy demo.

It's still a piss poor job all around though.

The boxed version contains all of the data for the game. People who don't have fast internet connections or have strict bandwidth limits prefer this so they don't have to download the entire game.

And the demo not being ready to release prior to the game in no way means that the game isn't ready to release. They are separate projects, and contrary to what some people seem to believe, Firaxis does not have a magical infinite supply of programmers.

 

[Auncien]

The boxed version contains all of the data for the game. People who don't have fast internet connections or have strict bandwidth limits prefer this so they don't have to download the entire game.

And the demo not being ready to release prior to the game in no way means that the game isn't ready to release. They are separate projects, and contrary to what some people seem to believe, Firaxis does not have a magical infinite supply of programmers.

working late today aren't we?

 

[12agnar0k]

I really hate it when people say "it was a concious decision" there is no such thing as an unconcious decision, a decision can't be made without conciousness, it's an utterly rediclious propoganda like saying to try and shed a bad light on 2k games.

If 2k say that the game is not finalized yet then it is not finalized, this could also mean that its simply not been uploaded to the Steam servers and had the title "Civ5 Demo" slapped on it, this would define finalization, so before you start to accuse them of lying, read what they said, they didn't even say that "its not been developed fully". Although that could be the case all the same.

 

[Minmaster]

I doubt 2K games is scared that people will cancel their pre orders after playing the demo.

Likely, they are worried that civ noobs will try the demo out and if it is buggy, they will automatically tune it out because of that. It could amount to a fair amount of lost sales.

People that pre-order have already pretty well committed to the game anyway.

but this hurts the people who wanted the pre-order bonus stuff but wasn't sure if their PCs can handle the game. if the demo came out before, and we found out whether our systems can adequately run Civ5, we would still be able to pre-order and get the bonus stuff. now if we wait until release, we won't be able to.

 

[Boris Godunov]

Make no mistake about it - this was a conscious decision - 2K deducted that the average person who's never played Civ before would get scared/demoralized by the complexity and be less inclined to buy it after they try it.

The average person who's never played Civ before isn't likely to be pre-ordering the game. Your thesis makes no sense whatsoever, because there will BE a demo, it will just be released on the same day as the game is available. The vast, vast majority of people who buy games do not pre-order them, they wait until it is released. Many wait until there are reviews available, which is post-release anyway.

There really is only a very small segment of the market who are negatively effected by this, if we can even it call it that "negative:" people who had not yet pre-ordered the game, but were planning to pre-order it within the final days/weeks before release pending playing the demo. That group of consumers is very, very small, so the notion that this would have some predictable effect on overall sales one way or the other that would effect the demo's release is implausible, to say the least.

 

[EmpireOfCats]

They are separate projects, and contrary to what some people seem to believe, Firaxis does not have a magical infinite supply of programmers.

Ah, that is the missing info, thank you.

This does lead to the question what the differences between the demo and the full version will be exactly ... you just knew that question was coming, I know ...

 

[asix79]

Ah, that is the missing info, thank you.

This does lead to the question what the differences between the demo and the full version will be exactly ... you just knew that question was coming, I know ...

What about the people at Firaxis that had been laid off some time ago? It drew attention at the time, and the missing manpower could be affecting the final push. I don't know. It's just something to think about.

 

[Infiltrator]

I really hate it when people say "it was a concious decision" there is no such thing as an unconcious decision, a decision can't be made without conciousness, it's an utterly rediclious propoganda like saying to try and shed a bad light on 2k games.

If 2k say that the game is not finalized yet then it is not finalized, this could also mean that its simply not been uploaded to the Steam servers and had the title "Civ5 Demo" slapped on it, this would define finalization, so before you start to accuse them of lying, read what they said, they didn't even say that "its not been developed fully". Although that could be the case all the same.

And I really hate it when people open their mouths and talk nonsense.
Put your hand out and close your eyes. Make a friend light a match below it at a random time. What happens - your brain reacts on the burn and moves the hand away instantly, and you only realize what happened a moment later. Guess what - the decision to move your hand was UNCONCIOUS.
Other examples involve manipulating others into thinking like you want them to. Happy to dispel that propaganda illusion.

Now, what makes you think the demo wont be ready before the release date? Dating a demo 24 days before release means work on it began quite some time ago, if they were really putting it out as soon as it was ready there would have been no precise release date.

 

[Drake L. Dragon]

You'd think that 2K Greg was a politician with all this unverified speculation. I haven't seen these many conspiracy theories since I started watching Alex Jones. The thing is, look at when Civilization V was announced and where we are now. Not many gaming corporations dedicate that they will release a game only four months after announcing it. The conjecture of the specific release date of the demo on September 21, 2010 has little foundation because, as someone in this thread said, the demo won't be released until 10:00 P.M. that night, after the North American release date. With the fact that the demo at the German Conference for the game was reportedly very unfinished, I don't see why it is that hard to believe that the game developers are truly working overtime and therefore need the extra time to dedicate themselves not only to finish but to furnish the game for their dedicated fans. I'm sorry, if I just don't seem as angry as many of you, but the majority of PC games do not even have a demo before the release date of the final build.

Let's also remember that September 21, 2010 is a school or work day. I highly doubt people will have the time, until the weekends, really to get into the game.

 

[Tarkhan]

He's not a politician, his hands are tied by the marketing people.

(and if you havent read much dilbert, in any company, marketing is evil.)

 

[12agnar0k]

Irrelevant Nonsense

Dating a demo 24 days before release means work on it began quite some time ago, if they were really putting it out as soon as it was ready there would have been no precise release date.

Thats not decision making, thats a basic impulse, Ill think you will find, the boys at frixasis didnt delay the production due to unconcious jumping out of thier seats because they have a spider infestastion and they are all ridiclious arachnophobiacs. No I think you will find the delaying of the game was ofcourse a concious act, they didnt have several hand retractions from hot flames whilst typing code, they decided to put off the release date as a concious decision because they weren't able to complete the project as early as they thought. Nothing unconcious about it, but your propoganda use of the word concious (when the delay could be by no other decision making process) in your absoutely attrocious attack on 2k is obvious.

They didn't date the demo as 24 days before release, Greg only said In September before the 21st, he did not specify it would be close to the start of the month at all, for all you know it was always planned to be released on the 20th, so in that case he would be a whopping 1 day late with the release, and thats "a marketing ploy" is it, "an obvious money making tactic" really?, Honhestly, the stuff some people come out with.

 

[asix79]

I think we all should be grateful that the game is being developed at all. With all of the problems in the world today, the release date of a $50 game shouldn't be the source of such angst. Let's all be a bit more patient -- and appreciative that we're in a position to debate such an ultimately frivolous issue.

 

[Thormodr]

The boxed version contains all of the data for the game. People who don't have fast internet connections or have strict bandwidth limits prefer this so they don't have to download the entire game.

And the demo not being ready to release prior to the game in no way means that the game isn't ready to release. They are separate projects, and contrary to what some people seem to believe, Firaxis does not have a magical infinite supply of programmers.

I am sure that Firaxis does have a limited amount of programmers. I'm quite sure it's been streamlined very well to placate the shareholders and ensure that 2K Games' profit margins aren't eaten into.

Anyway, how about arranging a walkthrough of the game by a prominent member of the Civ fanatics community maybe a week before the game is released? Sulla's walkthrough for cIV was excellent and got all the hardcore players excited about the game. The best marketing the game could ever get in my opinion. At least for hardcore Civ fans.

It seems all the marketing is being directed at new players. What about Civ fans like me that have been buying Civ products since the Civ I came out? How about the loyal buyers that pre-ordered the game months before? Throw us a bone here.