Civilization V Demo Release Date Announced

[2K Greg]

Hey guys, I finally have the demo release date for you:
http://www.civilization5.com/#/commu...o_release_date

Here's the full text:

Civilization V Playable Demo Release Date

I’ve gotten several requests for a formal Civilization V demo release date over the past couple weeks, and today I have the answer. The Civilization V playable demo release date is September 21st; the same day as the North American release date of the full game.

The question many of you are probably asking now is “didn’t you say it would be available before the release date?” The answer to that question is yes, I did. At the time of that announcement, we expected to be able to get the demo out before the 21st, but unfortunately we weren’t able to finalize it in the timeframe we had initially planned, and for that we’re very sorry.

However, we have managed to get it out the same day as the North American release. So for those of you who have been waiting to try out the demo before buying the game, you can still do that with enough time left to run out to the store (or purchase on Steam) and have the full game on the same day as everyone else.

[SpartanLegends]

Can't wait, although that is on the far end of what I'd hoped. If I may ask here, how much will the demo contain? I ask in regard to size, wondering if it will be significantly smaller for the intent of downloading it first, and playing it while the full game downloads, as I'm thinking of getting it on Steam.

[SamBC]

And the demo will be available then worldwide, not just in the US, or is the Steam unlock of the two tied together?

[Stylianfire]

Im sure some will be dissapointed about the date. Ohh well no demo for me, I have confidence the full game will be just fine and if its not after a few patches it will be.

[Akar]

Grrrrr. I was so looking forward to playing this before the realease day.

[MegaBearsFan]

NOOOooooooooooooooooo!

That means I have to go through another week or two at least of Civ withdrawal without a Demo to play!

[McKampela]

Living in Europe is good for something... Kinda. Now only thing I need to know is that can I start pre-loading the game at 21th in Europe.

[2K Greg]

Can't wait, although that is on the far end of what I'd hoped. If I may ask here, how much will the demo contain? I ask in regard to size, wondering if it will be significantly smaller for the intent of downloading it first, and playing it while the full game downloads, as I'm thinking of getting it on Steam.

I believe the answer is that yes, it's a worldwide demo on the 21st, but I will check to be sure.

[Stylianfire]

2K Greg make up for this bad news with another blog or some juicy info for us... Dont allow your faithful to spend the day dissapointed...

[Akar]

This calls for gregs execution! Maybe with blood on the alter the ciV gods shall smile on us and release the demo early!

[2K Greg]

2K Greg make up for this bad news with another blog or some juicy info for us... Dont allow your faithful to spend the day dissapointed...

What juicy info would you like to learn?

[Stylianfire]

What juicy info would you like to learn?

More info on Multiplayer changes/options

[Akar]

More info on Multiplayer changes/options

Seconded!!

[Adar_Zan'nh]

More info on Multiplayer changes/options

Seconded!!

I Thirded the motion!!

[porky]

Dang, I was hoping on using the demo as a test for my computer before pre-purchasing the game. Now I am going to be buying a game I am not sure my computer will run. Shoot.

I am also rather concerned about being able to download the demo for this game when a lot of other people will be doing the same thing and possibly slowing downloads down. Before installing it, and playing it enough to see if my computer will handle it. Then turning around and downloading the full version that same release day while, hopefully, 1,000's of other people are also downloading it.

I've never used steam before but with other games I've downloaded even downloading something as small as a patch can take a very long time if everyone else that plays the game is doing the same thing. So, sorry if I'm a bit skeptical on the whole you'll have plenty of time to demo it, purchase it and play the real thing all on the same date dealio.

[Floating Pants]

Didn't originally plan on getting the demo anyways. Be kind of pointless now when I'll be getting the game on that date.

[Akar]

Dang, I was hoping on using the demo as a test for my computer before pre-purchasing the game. Now I am going to be buying a game I am not sure my computer will run. Shoot.

I am also rather concerned about being able to download the demo for this game when a lot of other people will be doing the same thing and possibly slowing downloads down. Before installing it, and playing it enough to see if my computer will handle it. Then turning around and downloading the full version that same release day while, hopefully, 1,000's of other people are also downloading it.

I've never used steam before but with other games I've downloaded even downloading something as small as a patch can take a very long time if everyone else that plays the game is doing the same thing. So, sorry if I'm a bit skeptical on the whole you'll have plenty of time to demo it, purchase it and play the real thing all on the same date dealio.

Steam didnt crash when the hundreds/thousands of people downloaded LFD1/2 or Modern Warfare 2. And those are more popular than Civ.

[Floating Pants]

Steam didnt crash when the hundreds/thousands of people downloaded LFD1/2 or Modern Warfare 2. And those are more popular than Civ.

Maybe MW2, but not LFD. Civ surpasses them by far.

[porky]

Steam didnt crash when the hundreds/thousands of people downloaded LFD1/2 or Modern Warfare 2. And those are more popular than Civ.

I didn't mean crash and come to a complete halt I just meant will the downloads be teeerrrriiiibbblllllyyyy sssllloooowwwww. Do their downloads do that at high volume times?

[EnigmaCode]

More info on Multiplayer changes/options

Seconded!!

I Thirded the motion!!

I fourtheth the motion!! Wait... does that make sense?

[EnigmaCode]

Hooray! Thanks for telling us when the demo would come out Greg. Now, I am a bit disappointed, but at least we have a demo we can play with.

[tfordp]

I must admit, I was (still am?) slightly dissapointed with this date, I was hoping and expecting earlier, but I guess the reasons for doing it are probably in all our best interests; as I haven't pre-ordered, I will just have to download the demo on the same day as the rest of the world (which I would have done anyway), and luckily being in Europe I will have at least three days to check out the game on my systems and still have plenty of time to prepare for release day.
My life has been worse, and I will survive.

[Onandoga]

Demo released same day as game?

I R MAD, I R BREATH FIRE!!! SMASSSSSHH!!!....

And i fifth-eth the motion on mp options!

[Mjollinor]

Only thing that will sate my anger will be game play vids!

[SpartanLegends]

As an original post off topic, but not off topic in reference to what everyone else is talking about, I was a little interested in modern or otherwise naval combat getting very little exposure in videos, or even images. I really look forward to the changes we can expect, I've always held pride in a large fleet around my coast, and that of my enemies.

A more on topic reiteration of what I previously said, in respect to the actual game, how large will the demo be? Again, I don't ask for the sake of free space, I ask to know if it would be economical to download and play the demo while the full game is downloading.

[porky]

I forgot this in my other post. News I don't want to hear is better than not hearing anything at all. Thank you for the update in a nice timely manner. It might not be what I wanted to hear but I still appreciate it. Thanks!

[Black Gate of Mordor]

Demo released same day as game?

I R MAD, I R BREATH FIRE!!! SMASSSSSHH!!!....

And i fifth-eth the motion on mp options!

Hooray! Living in Australia's good for something.

And I sixthd the motion for MP news (does that even make any sort of sense? )

[Bantams]

Either this is some sick Joke or you really have screwed up the Multiplayer part of the game and dont want us to find out before it's Public Knowledge?

As to not being able to release before 21st just release a SP version then (I Know that works) so we are ready system wise come release

[Kaiman]

Seventhed the motion!
What a buzzkill. Ah well, not much of a demo fan usually, was making an exception for this. Though I am in NZ so suppose It could be a lil benefit.

But whats 3 days right?
3 days without civ 5... *shudders*

heal the pain 2k Greg, in a way only you could right now

[TalijaN]

I have been observing the forums for some time, but i have to say something now.

The game is done, or in the last stages of polishing. It should go gold (copy production), if it is not already.

I have been a civilization veteran, since the beginning of the series. I have been expecting to see a demo in a nice time frame before release, which should be a week before the release date. Not because i doubt 2K or Sid, but because i want to ease my huge hype with the demo, while i wait for my already reserved copy.

It seams that i will not have that pleasure, and will just wait for the release date and my copy of the game. I must say that i am just a bit disappointed about the demo announcement, and here is the reason.

I will ask this question, how is it possible that gaming sites and magazines have a fully functional press release build of Civilization 5 now, so that they can do their previews and advertise the game a bit, and 2K says that they cannot get the demo for the general public ready before the actual release date? This is confusing, because it is not hard to use that very same press build, modify or lock it up a bit, and release it as a public demo whenever they want.

This is exactly why i wonder, what is the real and exact reason for their late demo release and explanation "we cannot do it before"...

Think about it.

[Soviet_Storm]

Gregg

I do like you, but must say im very disappointed

Make it up to us with some more urgent updates

[porky]

I have been observing the forums for some time, but i have to say something now.

The game is done, or in the last stages of polishing. It should go gold (copy production), if it is not already.

I have been a civilization veteran, since the beginning of the series. I have been expecting to see a demo in a nice time frame before release, which should be a week before the release date. Not because i doubt 2K or Sid, but because i want to ease my huge hype with the demo, while i wait for my already reserved copy.

It seams that i will not have that pleasure, and will just wait for the release date and my copy of the game. I must say that i am just a bit disappointed about the demo announcement, and here is the reason.

I will ask this question, how is it possible that gaming sites and magazines have a fully functional press release build of Civilization 5 now, so that they can do their previews and advertise the game a bit, and 2K says that they cannot get the demo for the general public ready before the actual release date? This is confusing, because it is not hard to use that very same press build, modify or lock it up a bit, and release it as a public demo whenever they want.

This is exactly why i wonder, what is the real and exact reason for their late demo release and explanation "we cannot do it before"...

Think about it.

This. I agree with. All these gaming sites get a demo to preview. It can't be real hard to turn that into a playable demo for the paying customer base. Heck, just give us 50-100 turns to see the new gameplay and setup without getting too far into things.

Wouldn't releasing a demo a week or two in advance possibly help with getting some bugs reported early also? As long as the demo build isn't too 'old' compared to the release version.

[JayFirelance]

Aw... How do I get my Civ 5 fix then?!?! I NEED MY FIX, MAN!

[Drewg22]

I was hoping to test my PC before release but I guess not anymore.

[cristic]

I was hoping to test my PC before release but I guess not anymore.

Oh come on, just test it after the release date and if it works buy it, you'll probably only have to activate so you don't even have to reinstall. And if it doesn't work you won't be able to play it anyhow, will you?

[mattlach]

I didn't mean crash and come to a complete halt I just meant will the downloads be teeerrrriiiibbblllllyyyy sssllloooowwwww. Do their downloads do that at high volume times?

I've never had this experience, though the only game I ever downloaded upon launch in Steam was Half Life 2 back in 2005, so I could play Counter-Strke Souce...

I still think they ought to use a bittorrent like protocol for steam downloads. It would make so much sense, and scale much better than the current model, at lower cost to Valve...

[slowtarget]

Oh come on, just test it after the release date and if it works buy it, you'll probably only have to activate so you don't even have to reinstall.

Steam considers demos and full games to be completely separate titles, and so it can't/won't "upgrade" a demo installation to a full version. You'll have to download the full game when you buy it. The only good news is that it will probably use the same configuration options as you set in the demo.

[mattlach]

Steam considers demos and full games to be completely separate titles, and so it can't/won't "upgrade" a demo installation to a full version. You'll have to download the full game when you buy it. The only good news is that it will probably use the same configuration options as you set in the demo.

Steam is usually pretty smart about shared data files between games as well, so I would expect there to be little duplicated downloading between the two...

[slowtarget]

I've never had this experience, though the only game I ever downloaded upon launch in Steam was Half Life 2 back in 2005, so I could play Counter-Strke Souce...

I've downloaded a few games at launch and I regularly play a couple that are popular and get frequent updates (TF2). Huge download volume doesn't usually result in really slow speeds. I normally download from Steam at about 1.9MB/sec. At high-download times, it will drop to 1.2MB/sec. Instead, you may end up trying to start the download multiple times. Steam servers are pretty powerful and they've got silly amounts of bandwidth, but they can only handle so many people trying to start a download at a time. Once it starts, you're fine, but I've waited 5-15 minutes to get some TF2 updates.

Of course, with TF2 updates, you've got thousands of Steam-regulars who are all hitting the server within minutes of the patch's release. I suspect the Civ5 roll out to be a little more gradual, especially since the bulk of players will still be getting the boxed version.

I still think they ought to use a bittorrent like protocol for steam downloads. It would make so much sense, and scale much better than the current model, at lower cost to Valve...

Bittorrent works great when you don't have to worry about liability. If Steam would use Bittorrent, antagonistic users could put filters on their boxes/routers to poison everyone's downloads and make the process much longer and less reliable than a straight download. Sure, only a few people are jerks like that, but those are the people you need to think about when you are as big of a target as Steam is.

[slowtarget]

Steam is usually pretty smart about shared data files between games as well, so I would expect there to be little duplicated downloading between the two...

I've never seen Steam pull off a "smart" download of a real game based on the demo. It'd be possible and really cool if they did. Maybe they do for other games. For all the demo/full game pairs I've downloaded (3?), Steam made separate directories for the demo and full game and I don't remember seeing any download size decrease due to having the demo around.

Do other games do this? Can anyone give an example? It would give us an idea what types of games they can pull it off with.