Civilization V demo release date announced: 21st of september

[AlpsStranger]

People people - If you are still going to buy the game despite not playing the demo, you are obviously not concerned nor being the target group for the demo. So just be loyal customers and hand over you money on anything labeled Civilization. Those of you who have cancelled your preorders or wait day or two (or *shock* even longer) playing the demo I can understand. Is it stupid that companies nowadays don't release demos or do it in this way? Sure, but it's another subject.

I totally agree. Demos should be provided for pretty much any game software. I can't state this often enough. Even with the piracy risk, I feel that all games should have demos. I would urge 2K to go ahead and bump the demo up a few weeks.

I still think it's obnoxious that everyone feels the need to pull an Eeyore the Donkey routine every time a Civ5 news item surfaces.

 

[CustodianV131]

Civ is a bit of a unique situation in my eyes. I've bought them all and except for 1 on release day. I would have if I could, but games weren't that wide spread back then. Usually I'm also a careful shopper, but Civ is one of the few titles I dare to make an exception for.

Not 1 Civ version has disappointed me that I regretted doing so. Even Civ 3. which I regard as the weakest link. I played for many an enjoyable hour.

Even if Civ V is a disappointment, and the signs are otherwise, the Civ series is BY FAR the cheapest game per hour I've ever bought.

I think I'm good.

 

[Lord peter 446]

I look at it this way: Now I can see if my notebook can handle this game. Since the screenshots are so nice I am afraid that my computer might be able handle it. That why demo exist, so people can know if they should make the $50+ investment in the game.

 

[_hero_]

Let's assume for a second that it is true in fact that they couldn't get the demo finalized and released any faster than this. What then would you have them do? Move back the official release date so as to have the demo come out in advance? That would have been even worse from a marketing standpoint. Had they never announced a demo coming out to begin with, it wouldn't be as big a deal. They are releasing a free demo to us. With a game like Civ, I really don't think there is a need to "hype up the game" with a demo. Civ V will be a best seller. Just like every Civ before it. Is it annoying that we don't get the demo earlier? Sure because we all are very anxious to try the game out. I don't think it really proves anything else though.

My take on the situation is that the production team has internal issues which keep leading to things not going as smoothly as planned. Whether they are understaffed, disorganized, or simply poor at planning ahead is unclear.

 

[Omega124]

Wait, the main market for this game are the hardcore, long-term fans and people whom are married to Valve and Steam. Considering the fact that the former already made up their minds if they're going to get it or not, and the latter is mostly FPS fans and probably never liked a TBS like Civ and might be put away from its difference, wouldn't releasing the demo on the same day as the actual release DEFEAT THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF A DEMO!?

 

[nokmirt]

That is completely ******ed. What are they thinking!

 

[Darth Caesar]

That is completely ******ed. What are they thinking!

 

[PeterWimsey]

Wait, the main market for this game are the hardcore, long-term fans and people whom are married to Valve and Steam. Considering the fact that the former already made up their minds if they're going to get it or not, and the latter is mostly FPS fans and probably never liked a TBS like Civ and might be put away from its difference, wouldn't releasing the demo on the same day as the actual release DEFEAT THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF A DEMO!?

This not correct on two levels. First of all, there appears to be a belief among some posters that Civ occupies a niche market with low sales, and that the market is somewhat represented by civfanatics members.

This is demonstrably not true. Civ is a *mainstream* game and is one of the most popular computer games in the world. Civs I-IV (not counting CivRev) have sold 10 million copies; a version of Civ has never been out of print since '91.

It is probably true that most people who bought Civ 4 when it came out are not still playing it, however.

Secondly, the point of a demo is to convince people who might be on the fence about buying the game that they should buy it, either by reassuring them that it will run on their systems, or by convincing them that they will like the game. There's no point in spending time and money making a demo for people who are definitely going to buy the game, or who are definitely not going to buy the game.

Although I'd like for the demo to come out now, I know I'm not the target audience, and I don't think it's a failure that it didn't come out early.

I'm happy they didn't do what some game companies do and release the demo 3 weeks after the game comes out.

 

[bernlin2000]

My take on the situation is that the production team has internal issues which keep leading to things not going as smoothly as planned. Whether they are understaffed, disorganized, or simply poor at planning ahead is unclear.

That would certainly correspond with the news a few weeks back that they laid off a significant portion of the lower-level staff that likely worked at Firaxis temporarily for Civ5. They jumped the gun, which left the demo's release in doubt. It's more sloppy than anything else, but I've already gotten over it: only 24 days left!

 

[CanuckSoldier]

I suspect and this is just my speculation, that this has less to do with marketing, though it is a bad marketing move, and more for technical reasons. I think it is likely that there will be a large 0 Day patch and they can't release an unpatched and likely buggy demo a week before the released game and the polished 0 day patch.

Now it would be nice if they could release a 0 day patch for the demo early as well, but I can understand that being problematic as well.

CS

 

[Jass]

This will put a lot of pressure on the steam servers on the 21st, won't it?

 

[CanuckSoldier]

This will put a lot of pressure on the steam servers on the 21st, won't it?

Yes and I hope Steam is prepared, not only do they have to deliver all the digital purchases of the released game for North America, but the demo for the world as well.

CS

 

[Biz_]

This is only bad news because they have decided to push so hard on all the preodering and special editions and DLC that buying the game ahead of time may end up saving money

 

[nokmirt]

This will put a lot of pressure on the steam servers on the 21st, won't it?

Yes sir, you know why? Because I am going to try out the demo first. There must be tons of people like me who are doing the same thing. Isn't the philosophy supposed to be, "Hey bring out the demo early, so lots more people fall in love with it, and by doing that, it will greatly increase our initial sales?"

 

[Thormodr]

That would certainly correspond with the news a few weeks back that they laid off a significant portion of the lower-level staff that likely worked at Firaxis temporarily for Civ5. They jumped the gun, which left the demo's release in doubt. It's more sloppy than anything else, but I've already gotten over it: only 24 days left!

This seems like a likely explanation. 2K Greg admonished me and said "Firaxis doesn't have infinite staff as some of you would believe!" or something like that. Well duh...
They laid off a good deal of them and now that the game seems to be having issues they are in a bind. I am sure the game will be fine but the marketing of this game along with the overlordship of 2K Games seems to be a gigantic cluster flock of birds. I feel sorry for Firaxis more than anything.

 

[AlpsStranger]

This seems like a likely explanation. 2K Greg admonished me and said "Firaxis doesn't have infinite staff as some of you would believe!" or something like that. Well duh...
They laid off a good deal of them and now that the game seems to be having issues they are in a bind. I am sure the game will be fine but the marketing of this game along with the overlordship of 2K Games seems to be a gigantic cluster flock of birds. I feel sorry for Firaxis more than anything.

Market realities are what they are, DLC and all. So long as the game is good I can take everything else in stride.

 

[Ranbir]

I knew 2K were in financial troubles and this might explain their poor quality in handling this.

Anyway, nice for a demo date what about the availability of the Civ5 special edition box for the UK?

 

[Merkill]

Sweet a demo to play until the game comes out on the 24th .

 

[Hipshot]

I think it can only hurt sales, releasing the demo before release...

 

[nokmirt]

I think it can only hurt sales, releasing the demo before release...

It should'nt this is Civ 5 we're talking about. It does not matter to me, I am not going to have the PC to play to my liking at first. So probably, in my case I will be better off just with the demo, there will be plenty of time to upgrade or buy a new PC in a bit. If there are alot of people out there like me, you could be right. But over the long haul, I am sure it will be quite a success.