Sid Meier (Director of Creative Development at Firaxis Games), known for Civilization, Pirates!, Alpha Centauri, among others, today shared some news about his studio's plans to leverage social networking with Civilization, which remains one of the most popular strategy games ever created.
"I wanted to let you know we’ll soon be looking for beta testers to help us develop a unique new way to play Civilization," Meier said in an official forum post. "Ever since we finished Civilization Revolution last year, I’ve been looking at ways of expanding the Civ gameplay experience to include solo, competitive and cooperative play to take advantage of the uniqueness of social networks. We’re calling this project Civilization Network and the full game will be available next year on Facebook."
He continued, "Civilization Network will allow you to join together with your friends to create the world’s most powerful, richest, smartest, or just plain coolest civilization. You can coordinate your strategy to win great battles, share your technology to jump ahead of your rivals, lobby your family and friends to form your own government and win vital elections, manage and grow your cities to maximize production and happiness, spy on your enemies, and work with your friends to create the great Wonders of the World. The game will offer everything you enjoy in Civ in a fully persistent environment - you can play as much as you like, whenever you like, and it’ll be free to play."
More updates and behind-the-scenes information will slowly be revealed on the official Facebook page for the game, Meier said.
We honestly think this is a fantastic idea and believe Civilization Network will do incredibly well for Firaxis. With over 300 million accounts on Facebook, and social gaming exploding (just look at Zynga's Farmville), this seems like the perfect time for Firaxis to launch its first social gaming experience. Civilization is an IP that would seem to lend itself perfectly to this genre.
