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The Almighty Buck Entertainment Games

Infogrames has Sold the Civilization Franchise 56

Posted by Zonk from the will-sell-license-for-cash dept.
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."
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Infogrames has Sold the Civilization Franchise More

Infogrames has Sold the Civilization Franchise

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  • To Who? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by TwoStep ( 36482 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @05:43PM (#10912922) Homepage
    Does anyone know who they sold it to? Firaxis? Another publisher?

  • Wait, isnt Infogrames Atari now? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by darkmayo ( 251580 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @05:59PM (#10913091)
    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!)
    • The parent company based in France is still called Infogrames - or Infogrames Entertainment to give the company its full title. This is the head of the group, which contains units like Atari, Inc. (which operates officially in the US, and is the parent for all the 'Atari' offices, like Atari UK).
    • Sid is working for Firaxis, the company he founded several years ago. Their first game was Alpha Centauri. Their latest is, in fact, a new version of the classic Pirates! [firaxis.com] which should be in stores now.
    • Sid Meier founded Firaxis, which made CivIII and is currently developing CivIV. This sale was only the rights to the name and publishing, and since development has been going on for some time already, chances are Firaxis will get to continue developing it -- just under a different publisher. Some are speculating that Firaxis actually bought the rights -- they already bought some older Microplay properties from Atari last year.

  • Did they just sell the name? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Dr. Spork ( 142693 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @06:00PM (#10913108)
    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? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Sailsa ( 740130 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @06:16PM (#10913323)
    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.
    • I'm confused as to how this series is not making enough money.

      The Civ series is making money. That's why they sold it off, they thought they could get plenty of money for the rights...the rights to distribute it.

      You've got to remember that the gaming industry is much like the movie or music industry (I'm not talking about the evilness, but not ruling that out as well). At the top, you have the big distributers, the Atari's, Infograme's, EA's, etc. At the bottom, you have the development studios. Th

  • Hopes and Suggesstions. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mnmn ( 145599 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @06:28PM (#10913439) Homepage
    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.
    • civ 3 allowed grouping of units if you build a general (don't remember the details it was long time ago) of up to 8 units and I think you had the combined power of those units.

    • 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.

      I was actually thinking of that while playing freeciv the last days. Having a unit like governor that would micromanage the cities would be great.

      PS a civ that doesnt end in 2040, and smoothly translates into an Alpha Centauri game wouldnt h

      • For the "Civ transitions into Alpha Centauri" concept, try Civilization: Test of Time, which is identical to Civ2 with slightly better graphics and an endgame that includes development on Alpha Centauri and advanced research (instead of just "Future Tech").

        Plus, since it's been out for years, it can be had cheap in the bargain bin or on eBay.
    • 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.

      There's an option to disable these animations. Pretty vital, especially in LAN multiplayer.

      Another feature I'm hoping for is grouping up units

      You can move units by stack and by type-in-stack. There's a button in the lower right hand corner for it. Better grouping woul
      • There's an option to disable these animations. Pretty vital, especially in LAN multiplayer.

        Actually, no (AFAICT). There is an option to turn off animations but it doesn't turn them off completely. I still se the units move from one point to another with this option turned off. It will just make an uglier move. With alot of units, just watching them move between turns can take 2-3 minutes when playing a huge world.
    • > I'd still want Sid Meyer to be part of the development team though.

      SidMeyer(tm) is merely a trademark. His work on Civilization was most innovating but he obviously had a writing block ever since.

      Furthermore I quote from Wikipedia (http://tinyurl.com/3knkk):
      "Unknown to many, both Sid Meier's Civilization II and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri were primarily his designs, not Sid_Meier's. Both games, however, borrow from Sid's original Civilization."

      While Civilization was innovative and great Civilization

      • "Unknown to many, both Sid Meier's Civilization II and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri were primarily his designs, not Sid_Meier's. Both games, however, borrow from Sid's original Civilization."

        Hey, I wrote that paragraph! It's the first time someone on ./ quotes from something *I* wrote!

        • Heh, glad to spread truth ;)

          What was your source btw?
          • The credits in the manuals and in the games. :) Oh, Colonization is also a Brian Reynolds design.

            BTW, Civ 3 isn't a Sid Meier game either - his credits in the manual are... having designed the original Civ. The lead designers are Soren Johnson and Jeff Briggs.

            Which games DID Sid Meier actually work in, recently? Gettysburg and SimGolf. Don't know about the new Pirates! yet.

            Here's my supposition: Sid doesn't like sequels much. He just lends his name to them. Then again, he *did* design the originals...

    • 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

      One thing that I've always been bothered by about the Civ games (and clones) is they still adhere to the "B.C." and "A.D." timelines of our civilization. Also especially annoying is the way they scale the number of years per turn from ancient to modern times. Why is that?

      For instance, by ab

    • Sid designed a lot of great games. Including the Sword of the Samurai, the original Pirates!, Civilization, Colonization, F-15 Strike Eagle, Gunship. He certainly likes to change genres a lot.

      However I would agree that he has basically done zilch since Colonization came out. Except signing on his name. You could count Sim Golf, but that game was not that interesting. Sid seems to have forgotten his roots and seemingly wants to be Will Wright now. A shame.

  • Here's the rundown (Score:5, Informative)

    by EvilDonut ( 164879 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @06:33PM (#10913473)
    HomeLAN Fed has the details [homelanfed.com], but here's the rundown:

    • The buyer is not known at this point. An Atari/Inforgrames rep. has stated that it's up to the buyer to disclose. No rumors yet, either.
    • Atari/Infogrames has sold the right to publish any new Civ games. They retain the right to sell the old Civ games until october 2005.
    • The sale is part of Atari/Infogrames' plan to raise the capital needed in order to repay a 117 million bond due in 2005.


  • Now before everyone goes OMG THIS ISN'T A HL2 TOPIC (OFFTOPIC#!%!) if a small developer bought Civ and they do not have a publisher they should seriously contact Valve about publishing it through steam. They could run ads in major game magazines and on websites plus Valve would probably advertise it on steampowered.com since it seems to me the average person who would play Civilization is old enough to have a credit card (or the ability to setup a paypal account and use the virtual debit bar) and would be k
    • If a Civilization game comes out requiring Steam, I won't buy it.

      As has already been pointed out, Civilization 3 made a lot of money (if not, there would not have been two expansions), and the only reason Atari/Infogrames sold the rights was because they needed the quick cash infusion. They don't NEED to change the distribution scheme and, in fact, it can only hurt them.

  • Oh great! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    And what are the rest of us supposed to do now, go back to hunting and gathering? Un-evolve? You can't just say "We're franchising civilization," and expect everyone to be able to afford the franchising fees.

  • Hmm. (Score:3, Funny)

    by djdanlib ( 732853 ) on Wednesday November 24, 2004 @10:39PM (#10915251) Homepage
    I hope they also got a good deal on rubber and uranium from the trade. Maybe after their envoys have created such a good relationship, the two companies will unite in an alliance to smite down the Ottoman Empire, too.
  • With such a high profile sale, maybe they'd also be willing to sell the Total Annihilation rights to Gas Powered Games.

    What ever happened to that rumored South Korean Total Annihilation II project anyway?

  • Isn't Infogames just the publisher/distributor? Firaxis has always been the developer. I'd compare it to a musician signing to a small label to record with, and then a bigger label like Sony to mass produce, market and distribute the final product.
  • "Has sold" =/= "Planning to sell"

    Please tell me I'm not the only one who noticed that...

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