As beta testers can hopefully attest to, making sure that Galactic Civilizations II is a top-notch strategy game hasn't been the only thing Stardock has been working on.  Making sure Galactic Civilizations is available at retail in a big way this next February/March has also been occupying the new publishing arm of Stardock Entertainment.  The original Galactic Civilizations was not published by Stardock, this time, we're in charge of the whole process  that means the game, the advertising, the marketing, box design, etc. 

So what has been happening on that front?  Stardock has signed on for dozens of full page ads in the major game magazines including Computer Gaming World, PC Gamer, and Computer Games Magazine to help strategy gamers know that the game is coming.  We've also been working with our distributor Take 2 to make sure that the retailers are on-board.  As a result, we hope to see Galactic Civilizations II have a much wider release this time.  For example, WalMart is taking pre-orders for the game.  Best Buy just signed on board today to take preorders (we'll have links for them as soon as its in their system), EB and Gamestop are taking preorders. By the time we release, we hope to be available in most major retailers in North America.  Meanwhile, our partner Paradox is taking care of things in Europe and is working hard to try to have the game be available throughout Europe at retail in the February/March time frame.

If you haven't seen the ad, this is what it looks like:

Being an "indie" game developer (and now publisher) does carry some challenges and risks.  But it allows us to do things our own way. For example, the retail version of Galactic Civilizations will have no copy protection whatsoever.  It will have a serial # that users can optionally enter in at install that they'll need to retrieve updates to the game after release.  But there will be no CD checks, no activation, no DRM or anything else in the retail package.  Instead, we hope to win over gamers by releasing a good game that we vigorously support well after release with free updates that aren't just bug fixes but offer new features and new content.

With any luck, the final game will be out at the tail end of February available for purchase at retail or for electronic download via TotalGaming.net. Stay tuned!