Firaxis Announces Full-Scale Civilization V For PC

Facebook won't be the only place for more Civilization -- today 2K Games announced developer Firaxis Games is working on the next main entry in the long-running alternate-history strategy series, Sid Meier's Civilization V. Due out this fall for PC, Civilization V will come roughly half a decade after the release of its predecessor, the highly-acclaimed fourth entry in the seminal series. Last October, Firaxis founder and development director Sid Meier said the studio was going to "develop a unique new way to play Civilization," in the form of Civilization Network for Facebook, leading some series fans to question whether a new mainline PC entry was in the works. Screenshots on the official site indicate a high level of unit and environment detail, as well as the surprising inclusion of hexagonal tiles, a first for the series. The logotype and graphic design treatment on the site suggests an Art Deco theme -- the predominant style of another successful 2K franchise, BioShock. The newly-announced game is headed up by designer/programmer Jon Schafer, who joined Firaxis out of college as a long-time modder. He worked on Civ IV and was a lead designer on its well-received expansion pack, Beyond the Sword. According to 2K, the game is built on a newly-developed engine which will again include multiplayer as well as offer considerable support for the modding community. Civilization IV's lead designer, Soren Johnson, left Firaxis in 2007 to take a job with Will Wright's Maxis team, where he contributed to Spore and is now developing unannounced projects. "Each new version of Civilization presents exciting challenges for our team," said Meier in a statement today. "Thankfully, ideas on how to bring new and fun experiences to Civ players never seem to stop flowing. From fully animated leaders and realistic landscapes, new combat tactics, expanded diplomacy and shared mods, we're excited for players to see the new vision our team at Firaxis has brought to the series."