Infogrames has Sold the Civilization Franchise

Reo Strong writes "Yahoo Finance is reporting that Infogrames isn't making enough money and as part of an announcement it was revealed they are selling the rights to the Civilization series. "Bonnell also said that Infogrames recently sold the franchise for the game Civilization, making a capital gain of 15.5 million euros, which should help second-half accounts."

Comments

To Who?

[TwoStep]

Does anyone know who they sold it to? Firaxis? Another publisher?

Wait, isnt Infogrames Atari now?

[darkmayo]

I thought they had adopted the Atari moniker from when they picked up Hasbro Interactive?

As well where is ole Sid Meyer? Did he go as well or will he still be pumping out stuff (mmmmm PIRATES!)

Did they just sell the name?

[Dr. Spork]

The article is pretty unclear. I assume that coding for Civ4 is well under way; Civ3 has been out for a while. Will this affect development? Or is it that Firaxis will just be coding for new masters, and little will change in the project? Wow, I would sure hate to see this excellent series start floundering for reasons of ownership...

Civ 4 in development still.... any changes?

[Sailsa]

The Civ series has been one of my favorites for years now. I have probably spent more time playing Civ 2 than any other game and still remember how I failed an eye test following the weekend I received that game. Normally I have 15/20 but too many hours staring at a screen with no sleep can change that. Anyways, I know Civ 4 is in development with Sorea Jackson leading. He gave a presentation regarding franchises earlier this year and mentioned what was being developed in the new edition. I'm confused as to how this series is not making enough money. Civ 3 was a huge success in terms of sales when compared to previous versions. I only hope that the new owners can continue this great series for many years to come. I know they'll get my money the day Civ 4 is released.

Hopes and Suggesstions.

[mnmn]

I hope as a result of this, more than anything else, the next Civ will have the top-down view option that the first Civ had. I've always had trouble with the side view Civ2 onwards had. The north-south directio n is twice as squished as the east-west and moving diagonally is terrible without the grid.

The other 'features' newer civs have are realistic and animated units, which go through pains to move/attack/fortify, whereas I like to build huge civilizations and move around units real fast, no sounds, animation, messages or delay.

Another feature I'm hoping for is grouping up units, like you do in Command n Conquer and Tiberian Sun, where CTRL-num after selecting a bunch of units bunches them under the number, and ALT-num selects them immediately. Usually I'm using more than one unit attacking a city, transporting them elsewhere, even with workers, flashmobbing a city zone. When you have hundereds of units, civ becomes a pain.

Lastly, the simple queueing of production in cities in Civ3 is terrific, but I'd like more, maybe through scripting. For example NEVER let a city goto civil disorder at the cost of causing starvation, or NEVER let shields fall below at the cost of civil disorder etc.

PS a civ that doesnt end in 2040, and smoothly translates into an Alpha Centauri game wouldnt hurt. At that point it would be civs on planets rather than continents, where the cost of transportation would be very high.

I'd still want Sid Meyer to be part of the development team though.