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kring
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Wichita,KS,USA
Dec 2001
time: 23:32
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Another update on Civ 4:
As posted at CivFanatics by Jeff Foley of Atari (bolding added by me):
Jeff's post
Hi folks!
As usual, glad to see all the interest and excitement. I consider myself spoiled to be able to start off marketing a new game with so many people talking about it. Sometimes gaming journalists complain that there are too many sequels out there. But is it any wonder, when games like Civilization have such a following?
A few things here, before we get ahead of ourselves. First of all, this wasn't even a product announcement, this was only a brief mention of the kind of irons Firaxis keeps in the fire. Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs, and their hardworking crew of artists, designers, and programmers, have built up a solid development studio with a strong track record and a wealth of experience. In a world where many development studios are startups struggling to make payroll, it's a luxury to work with a studio like Firaxis that's capable of running multiple product teams, shifting resources as necessary, to keep a steady stream of high quality games.
One of the reasons that Firaxis creates such amazing games is the aforementioned prototype phase. I'll tell you, it can play a bit of havoc with long-term planning, not knowing when a game will be ready! But it's instrumental to their creative process -- invent, and reinvent, and reinvent again, until everyone knows it's a winner. Only then do they go into production, and we (Atari) start to get into the loop.
Who would we be fooling if we said there would never be another Civ game! But suffice it to say there are currently no plans for any Civ sequels in 2004. Any other clarity on the release date for a sequel would definitely be premature. Please -- enjoy Civ 3, enjoy Civ Conquests, and while I'm sure the Firaxis folks appreciate the various suggestions being posted in Civ 4 threads, I cannot emphasize enough that it is early, early, early, and you'll likely not hear anything official about future Civ products for a long time.
In the meantime, we'll be focusing on Sid Meier's Pirates! and recreating a legendary game. We're currently expecting a Q4 2004 release, but anything's possible -- remember the whole prototype process? -- because we want to make sure to do this thing RIGHT. You'll begin to see more information about this game as early as January.
Happy holidays,
Jeff Foley
Atari
Additional post by Jeff in the same thread
quote:
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Originally posted by Grey Fox
Thanks Jeff, that sounds real reassuring. Not that I doubted Firaxis or Atari, it's just that It's good to hear that kind of thing from an official source.
And really, really, please make them take their time. I don't know how much impact you have on that Jeff. But please, don't rush the game out . If there is going to be multiplayer and modability, include that from the start, and have it finished, Please!
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Thanks, Grey Fox. I think Atari & Firaxis learned a lot from the Play the World release, and I think you saw the impact of those lessons in the Civ Conquests release -- we are not afraid to delay a release on behalf of quality. Going forward, we have the advantage of continuity, since a lot of the same faces are working on these projects. While the reality is that there will always be some time pressure -- without it, most games would never be released at all! -- I can assure you that the team in place puts great emphasis on the quality of our releases, and Pirates! will be no exception.
Best,
Jeff Foley
Atari
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09-12-2003 08:34
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