Why the secrecy with the Prussia (or unlikely Britain) last civ reveal announcement?

[Rhinestone Eyes]

Just wondered peoples view on why the devs are being so secretive with the last modern age civ reveal? Pretty sure Japan, Buganda, France and Mughals were announced a long time ago in the first few dev diaries. I think we've been guessing the last two civs from either Siam, Germany/Prussia or Britain for quite a while now. I know Siam's recently been announced.

My take is they are trying to minimise backlash by two big player bases (big civ7 buying populations) both hoping/ expecting their country will be in the base game as with previous titles, as the prospect of a modern age without Germany/ Prussia or Britain seems a bit mad probably to most people?

It all seems a bit strange when Ed Beach started off the Civ7 hype with the first IGN preview and BBC article talking about London and its historical layers being an inspiration for the new ages approach and seemingly telling at least two separate journalists that Rome-Normans-England would be in the game. Perhaps it's not Ed's fault and journalists just made assumptions that he didn't correct. Of course he could have planned for England/ Britain to be future paid DLC, but then I'm not sure what he was hoping to gain by being a bit misleading and not just managing expectations if/ when Prussia is finally confirmed as the last civ soon. Is this just coincidence or do you think it's planned to try and get people to pre-order before they get a nasty surprise at having to pay more for either Prussia or Britain in future? Or worse the Normans representing Britain and no plans for a modern Britain civ? Or is a curve ball coming and both are in? Pretty sure though Ed confirmed 30 civs + Shawnee a long time ago?

I would be interested in other peoples views

 

[ombak]

I think you're reading too much into it. They want to save some reveals to the very end. They also have to decide which ones make sense during the weeks leading up to release. Nintendo has a reveal event? OK, Japan makes sense. Otherwise, we might not have seen Japan at all until now.

They could be saving Prussia for last because they want it to have a positive impact and not be forgotten by the time of release. I think that's as likely, or probably likelier, than wanting to avoid a surprise.

 

[Gen.Washington]

Prussia and no Britain is 100% confirmed...

 

[Zaarin]

I wouldn't say they've been any more secretive about Prussia than they have any other unannounced civs. Yes, we've known about a few that were announced earlier to explain the civ switching mechanics, but Prussia wouldn't really be the ideal civ to explain that.

 

[Nikolai II]

They have a plan, set in stone more or less months ago. PR probably is required to follow that plan.

 

[Lord Yanaek]

Britain is most certainly coming as one of the first DLC civilizations. It will be in the game, just not at launch.

 

[Aeon221]

DLC civs get to take advantage of new design concepts gained from working on the base game civs so DLC UK will probably be pretty cool. Likely they also want to add a couple leaders. Maybe a double sided Elizabeth? Or even more fun Elizabeth II

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

There's no great conspiracy here. It's just marketing.

Without secrecy, the reveals lack impact. They have to create a frisson of excitement in order to build or maintain hype.

The order that things are revealed in is chosen by 2K marketing, and whether or not they make sense to us, it's what they feel is best.

 

[Sagax]

There’s about as much secrecy as there has always been during a reveal season.

You thinking they’re only now being “secretive” is because this community has scrutinized every pixel and letter of the available information out in the webs - including unauthorized information like leaks and information requiring very specific knowledge like unit and architectural styles of different cultures. A casual follower isn’t nearly as zealous.

If we strictly follow the officially revealed information without going out of our way to find hidden details, then the only modern civs that we knew about way ahead of time are Buganda, Mughal, and the French Empire. Not even America, though its inclusion is obviously a safe assumption.

 

[chaosprophet]

There’s about as much secrecy as there has always been during a reveal season.

You thinking they’re only now being “secretive” is because this community has scrutinized every pixel and letter of the available information out in the webs - including unauthorized information like leaks and information requiring very specific knowledge like unit and architectural styles of different cultures. A casual follower isn’t nearly as zealous.

If we strictly follow the officially revealed information without going out of our way to find hidden details, then the only modern civs that we knew about way ahead of time are Buganda, Mughal, and the French Empire. Not even America, though its inclusion is obviously a safe assumption.

Siam for example, we only knew quite ahead cause people found a screenshot on the site with it's name on it. So yeah, we learn a lot ahead because of how much people here find things and scrutinize every detail.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Two last weeks. lets guess who comes last? Prussia or Meiji Japan?

 

[lo24681]

plot twist its Mughals.

 

[UWHabs]

There’s about as much secrecy as there has always been during a reveal season.

You thinking they’re only now being “secretive” is because this community has scrutinized every pixel and letter of the available information out in the webs - including unauthorized information like leaks and information requiring very specific knowledge like unit and architectural styles of different cultures. A casual follower isn’t nearly as zealous.

If we strictly follow the officially revealed information without going out of our way to find hidden details, then the only modern civs that we knew about way ahead of time are Buganda, Mughal, and the French Empire. Not even America, though its inclusion is obviously a safe assumption.

Frankly, an average casual follower probably barely even knows the game is coming out.

The fact is someone has to be the last civ revealed, and they've always mildly tried to prevent spoilers from getting out. Like they've even tried to "hide" Buganda despite them being mentioned in the initial stream all those months ago. The simple fact is that it's easier to just have a blanket ban for anything that's not been "officially" announced, rather than having something more tenuous and left up to each person with an NDA's interpretation.

I mean, even when people worked out Indonesia's logo in a random first look, only for them to be announced a few weeks later, it's not like the devs came out with a "got us! Yeah, they're in." They still didn't say anything until the first look.

 

[Albertan Civfanatic]

Nothing says hype like Prussian Friedrich.

 

[Maiq]

Had to way for the pre-order checks to clear before letting you know what the full game was gonna be.

 

[Lord Shadow]

Meiji Japan is going to be mighty weird if we don't get Mutsuhito (posthumously Emperor Meiji) to go along with it...

 

[Cymsdale]

Or even more fun Elizabeth II

Corgi unit confirmed

 

[stefffff]

Britain is most certainly coming as one of the first DLC civilizations. It will be in the game, just not at launch.

this doesnt really make it any better, demanding a premium price and then still releasing stuff that should have been in the base game from the beginning as DLC.