Civilization is a franchise composed primarily of a series of turn-based strategyvideo games and associated media. The core of the franchise is a series of six titles for personal computers, released between 1991 and 2016. Sid Meier developed the first game in the series and has had creative input for most of its sequels. The official titles of the series, core games, and most spin-offs include his name, as in Sid Meier's Civilization. In addition to the main titles, the franchise includes multiple expansion packs and spin-off games, as well as board games inspired by the video game series. The series is considered a formulative example of the 4X genre, in which players achieve victory through four routes: "eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate".[1]
The first game in the series, Civilization (1991), was created by MicroProse co-founder Meier and Bruce Shelley. MicroProse continued the series for several years, producing Civilization II (1996) as well as a spin-off title, Sid Meier's Colonization (1994). Business changes after the consolidation of the company in 1996 with Spectrum HoloByte, which bought MicroProse in 1993, resulted in Meier leaving the company to found Firaxis Games in 1996.[1][2] Firaxis created a spin-off title, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (1999), but did not have the rights to the "Civilization" name. MicroProse did not produce any further games in the series beyond licensing the name to Activision for the spin-off Civilization: Call to Power (1999) before being purchased by Hasbro Interactive in 1998.[3] Hasbro Interactive, along with the "Civilization" brand, was in turn purchased by Infogrames in 2001, who licensed the name to Firaxis for Civilization III (2001).[1] The rights to the franchise were sold in 2004, however, to Take-Two Interactive, which licensed it to Firaxis again for Civilization IV (2005) just before acquiring Firaxis itself in 2005.[4][5] Firaxis has since served as the primary developer and Take-Two the sole publisher for the franchise, producing main-series games Civilization V (2010) and Civilization VI (2016) along with seven spin-off titles, including console and mobile versions of the franchise in Civilization Revolution (2008) and titles such as Civilization: Beyond Earth (2014).
In addition to video games, the franchise includes several board games, artbooks, and music albums. The first board game, Civilization: The Boardgame (2002), corresponds with Civilization III, while the second game by that name (2010) is based on Civilization IV, and the latest, Civilization: A New Dawn (2017), is based on Civilization VI. A card game, created by Civilization IV lead designer Soren Johnson and based on that game, was included with the Civilization Chronicles (2006) compilation. Books containing concept art and commentary for Civilization V and VI have been included in special editions of the game. Music CDs were included with the special editions of Civilization IV and V; digital albums have been sold for Civilization VI and its expansion, as well as for Civilization: Beyond Earth and its expansions. The Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals-winning theme song for IV, "Baba Yetu", was included in composer Christopher Tin's album Calling All Dawns,[6] while the theme song for VI, "Sogno di Volare", has been released as a single by Tin and included in his album To Shiver the Sky.
Sid Meier's Civilization II: Multiplayer Gold Edition (1997) includes the original game and both expansion packs along with added multiplayer functionality and other changes[18]
Sid Meier's Civilization II: Test of Time (1999) includes an expanded version of the original game with the multiplayer changes from the Multiplayer Gold Edition along with science fiction and fantasy campaigns for the game titled Lalande 21185 and Midgard[19]
Included in the Sid Meier's Civilization Chronicles (2006) compilation along with expansions[13]
Sid Meier's Civilization III: Gold Edition (2003) includes the original game and Play the World; Sid Meier's Civilization III: Complete (2004) includes the original game and both expansion packs[23][24]
Included in the Sid Meier's Civilization Chronicles (2006) compilation along with expansions[13]
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Gold Edition (2007) includes the original game and Warlords; Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Complete (2007) includes the original game and both expansion packs[28][29]
Included without expansions in the Sid Meier's Civilization Chronicles (2006) compilation and with expansions in Sid Meier's Civilization IV: The Complete Edition (2009) compilation[13][30]
Sid Meier's Civilization V: Game of the Year Edition (2011) includes the original game and all DLC released to date; Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gold (2013) includes the original game, Gods & Kings, and all DLC; Sid Meier's Civilization V: The Complete Edition (2014) includes the original game, both expansion packs, and all DLC[34][35][36]
Composed primarily by Geoff Knorr for Civilization VI
Published by 2K Games as a digital album
38 tracks with a duration of 2:24:09
Expanded version titled Sid Meier's Civilization 25th Anniversary Soundtrack included with Digital Deluxe Edition and 25th Anniversary Editions of the game[81]
Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Rise & Fall Original Game Soundtrack
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