It's been over five years since the release of Civilization VI, and over 30 years since the first entry in the great 4X game series came out. In a new interview, Civilization's legendary creator Sid Meier warns the game industry to be more focused on gameplay as opposed to monetisation.
Civilization is one of the greatest turn-based strategy games on PC and it hit its 30th anniversary in September last year. To celebrate, the BBC spoke with creator Sid Meier - who's been making games for far longer than that - about how the games industry has changed and what publishers and developers need to be focusing on.
"The real challenge and the real opportunity is keeping our focus on gameplay," Sid Meier says. "When we forget that, and decide it's monetisation or other things that are not gameplay-focused... when we start to forget about making great games and start thinking about games as a vehicle or an opportunity for something else, that's when we stray a little bit further from the path."
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The Civilization series has long been a staple of the strategy games scene and, with six major entries and ton of DLC in between, there's a whole lot of it to sink your pearly whites into. If you've been tempted but haven't yet given some of the major Civ games a go, now might be a great time - there's a whole bunch going cheap with a new Humble bundle.
Humble's new Sid Meier's Ultimate Collection bundle offers 21 games and items from across the legendary designer's catalogue. The highest tier - which will set you back $15 / £11.09 and nab you all of the bundle's offerings - includes the latest in the Civ series, Civilization VI, as well as eight expansions and DLC. There's Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm which, between them, add new game systems, civilizations, leaders, and world wonders. Smaller DLC include various scenario and civ packs, with the Vikings, Poland, Australia, Persia and Macedonia, Nubia, and Khmer and Indonesia options in the bundle.
There's additionally a $15 New Frontier Pass coupon, which lets you pick it up at that discounted rate for a limited time. The Civilization III, IV, and V Complete Editions also feature, which each come with their own bunch of extras on top of the base games.
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