Potential Release timing of CIV 4 !!!

[icett]

Most probably CIVILIZATION 4 will be released in the first half of 2005.

[Nikolai]

And you base this on........?

[Dauphin]

Do not question divine revelation.

[Jon Shafer]

I wonder if he's seen Dan Magaha's post which confirms that Firaxis is still developing CIV, and not Paradox?

[Maquiladora]

Well his act got old pretty quick.

[Locutus]

I have a really nice and fitting picture to go with this thread but I think I'd get in trouble with the owners if I'd use such a visual depiction of the term 'attention whore'

[Paddy]

party ard

[icett]

Development

Originally posted by Trip
I wonder if he's seen Dan Magaha's post which confirms that Firaxis is still developing CIV, and not Paradox?

Trip,


Firaxis may or may not be developing the game but the rights are with Paradox.

[icett]

Good sense of humor!

Originally posted by Dauphin
Do not question divine revelation.

Dauphin,


You have a good sense of humor dude.

[icett]

This is my judgement

Originally posted by Nikolai
And you base this on........?

Nikolai,


Read much information and came to this conclusion. This is my judgement. It may come out to be wrong but as I have already said MOST PROBABLY the timing is the first half of 2005.

[Trifna]

I fail to see the marketting department. I never saw a game not doing marketting before it was out, at least lightly early on... It would seem like a new and curious strategy

[FrostyBoy]

Atari still benefits from the sales if the game is released before October 2005.

I do believe cIV has been in production about a year before cIV was announced. (Mainly the engine and design work). I would say that a lot of cIV is actually done and now they are just bulking it up.

It's great that they haven't talked about cIV too much, it ruins the game for us in the end.

Civilization is a game that has to be discovered during play, not before play.

[Locutus]

1) The game being released within the next 6 months is bull. Marketing for new games usually starts at least 6 months (usually more) before release and not marketing a game properly is by the modern gaming industry considered commercial suicide (at present, the vast majority of casual gamers doesn't even know about the existance of Civilization 4 yet, it'll take a while to change that). Firaxis announced in October that they would reveal the first details on the game (thereby effectively starting the marketing campaign) in early 2005.

Also, if true it would IIRC be a first for Firaxis to publish a game without presenting it at E3 (which takes place in May) well in advance of release, which would be equally unwise from a marketing standpoint.

Finally, virtually all games and expansion packs developed by Firaxis have been released in the 4th quarter (or very late 3rd quarter). SimGolf and SMAC are the only exceptions, in both cases as a result of unexpected setbacks. I would bet a limb that Civilization 4 is planned to be released in Q4 2005.

2) Paradox is a developement company, not a publisher. Paradox's games are published by Atari and Strategy First. Even if Paradox would have the funds to buy the rights of Civilization, the only reason for them to do so would be to develop Civilization games, not to publish them. And we know this can't be true as Firaxis has already been developing Civilization 4 for at least about a year now (and Firaxis employees have confirmed in the past days that this has not been affected by the sale of the rights).

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Sn00py
Atari still benefits from the sales if the game is released before October 2005.

No, Atari retains the rights to sell previous Civ titles until October 2005. So Civ1-3, but not Civ4.

[Jon Shafer]

Originally posted by Locutus
No, Atari retains the rights to sell previous Civ titles until October 2005. So Civ1-3, but not Civ4.

Yeah, selling it for many millions of dollars and still getting money from the sales would be quite a deal.