Civilization Online sure does look nice, right? Unfortunately we may not be seeing it in the North America. Brian Roundy of publisher 2K Games spoke with PC Gamer yesterday stating they currently have “no plans for a North American release at this time”.
This news is not much of a surprise considering development studio XL Games is based in South Korea and the market in that region is much more open to these types of unorthodox MMO titles. All of this on top of the fact that licensing the title in the States would likely come with a hefty fee means our chances of seeing this title in North America sit squarely upon how well the title does in South Korea.
Oddly enough, nothing was mentioned about a release in Europe. This is likely due to PC Gamer not asking about a ‘Western’ release instead of a ‘North American’ release, as opposed to there being a surprise for Europe.
Considering the South Korean market’s taste for free to play titles with hefty cash shops, it will be interesting to see how Civilization Online plays out in its home market. XL Games is a very competent studio, but some things that fly with the MMO market just won’t fly among the 4X strategy fanbase in the West. This surprise cross-genre title has quite a few uphill battles to fight before it can be considered for a North American and European release.
