The game will offer a free-to-play structure and unique mechanics

Oct 26, 2012 08:01 GMT  ·  By

South Korea-based development studio XLGAMES and publisher Take Two announce that they are working on a new game in the Civilization series which will only be offered in Asia and will use an online model.

Jake Song, the chief executive officer at XLGAMES, is the leader of the project and a team of more than 100 developers will work on it, aiming to use the core elements of the Civilization franchise while also making judicious use of the MMO structure that Asian gamers prefer.

Strauss Zelnick, the chairman and the chief executive officer of Take Two, is quoted by VG247 as saying, “Making our intellectual property available to delight consumers wherever they are is an important component of our long-term growth strategy.”

He adds, “Our online and mobile social projects in Asia are enabling Take-Two to further broaden its global footprint and captivate audiences across a myriad of screens, platforms and business models. If successful, these projects will enhance our core business with revenue and profit streams that are higher margin and more stable over time.”

Take Two already has a strong presence in the Asian video game market, working with Tencent in China, Nexon in South Korea and GREE and CyberAgent in Japan.

At the moment, the biggest hit for the company is NBA 2K Online, which allows players to create their own basketball star and then join other players in complex online leagues.

Despite the announcement, neither Take Two nor XLGAMES have offered clear information on how Civilization Online will play when it is launched, but we can infer that the game will be offered to players for free and will be supported by micro-transactions.

Traditionally, core Civilization video games are developed by the Firaxis studio, which is currently working on more content for the fifth title in the series.

The developer also recently launched XCOM: Enemy Unknown.