I am very worried about this as well. The latest Railroads was absolutely abysmal in so many respects. I did not enjoy the simplicity or the childish color palette of Civilization: Revolution. I have no interest in trying to play Civ via a social networking platform like Facebook. I felt that the latest Colonization was far too repetitive and lacked substantial replayability. I also worry that (unless I am misinformed ) Soren Johnson is no longer working on the Civilization series because I feel that he did a lot to make Civilization IV a great game.
The above are only my opinions, however, so take them as such and with a grain of salt.
I dont mean any disrespect, but I think sometimes people who used to be innovators get stuck in a rut and forget to truly innovate. Simplification and broadened appeal do not always equate to a better gameplay experience. You want your game to be easy to pick up and entertaining to play but exceptionally difficult to master.
With all of that being said, I appreciate the great gameplay Civilization has brought over the years and I hope Civilization V is the greatest and most successful Civ yet.
