Ubi Soft is pleased to announce that Settlers IV will now arrive on the 30th March for the following territories: UK, France, Scandinavia, The Netherlands, Benelux, Australia, Portugal, Greece, the Middle East and South Africa. The launch of Settlers IV in other countries will be announced shortly but gamers can rest assured that it is imminent.
As a publisher, Ubi Soft recognises that it lives by its customers in the global gaming community and as such, a wholehearted apology goes out to the fans of The Settlers Series who have been eagerly awaiting the different language versions.
The reasons behind the unfortunate delay of the product were essentially quality assurance issues. Due to the acquisition of Blue Byte, a leading German developer of video games, and developer of The Settlers Series the original scheduled release date for Settlers IV was delayed. As with any change of publisher, a delay was expected, but Ubi Soft additionally wanted to guarantee that the game's distribution went as smoothly as possible.
One of the most popular series in the history of video games: The Settlers Series is a well-known economic strategy simulation. Selling nearly 3 million copies so far, the next instalment is highly anticipated and will surely not disappoint fans and casual gamers alike. Lucky gamers in German speaking territories have been able to experience the magic of Settlers IV, already.
Yves Guillemot, President and CEO of Ubi Soft, added: "As Blue Byte's teams are the leading specialists in the field, together we endeavoured to see that this wonderful game will now captivate players around the world."
THE SETTLERS IV is a PC-CDROM computer game that builds on the tried-and-true game principle of the preceding Settlers games, but is in essence a very new game. Fans will be able to recognise "their" Settlers, but also discover a number of innovations and new details.
The objective of the game is to build up a colony with a thriving construction and mining industry, food, tool and weapon production. The player's skilful use of resources, combined with the irrepressible get-up-and-go of the diverse Settler characters, form the foundation for a robust colony.
Key new features to Settlers IV include incredibly detailed graphics in which the characters, buildings and landscapes take on a new level of quality, with abundant animations of wildlife and scenery making settlements look all the more idyllic. The improved zoom function makes viewing even the smallest details a new pleasure. Additionally, 2 new tribes, Mayans and Vikings have been added as well as "The Dark Tribe" being given a much larger role in the game. To enhance the enjoyment far more, there is also a completely new game element, pleasingly fusing the construction component and strategic elements of The Settlers more closely together.
Plenty of new ingredients have been added to the action when societies collide. Mayans have paralysing blowguns and the Vikings an oversized explosive hammer. Also new to the game is magic. Unique spells can be gained by each side after priests have been recruited to build temples, casting spells from crop blessing to offensive hail storms. The class of saboteur makes a welcome fighting entry in the multi-player game, too (via LAN or the Blue Byte online gaming portal).
Ubi Soft wishes fans hours and hours of fun playing Settlers IV!
As for the next step, there will be more in The Settlers Series and Ubi Soft also aims to make The Settlers a global leader as well as developing it on a variety of other platforms, including PlayStation 2 and Game Cube. Thomas Hertzler, founder and head of Blue Byte, stated: "Ubi Soft's backing will help make our products better known because it will allow them to be adapted quickly to new generation consoles."
As a publisher, Ubi Soft recognises that it lives by its customers in the global gaming community and as such, a wholehearted apology goes out to the fans of The Settlers Series who have been eagerly awaiting the different language versions.
The reasons behind the unfortunate delay of the product were essentially quality assurance issues. Due to the acquisition of Blue Byte, a leading German developer of video games, and developer of The Settlers Series the original scheduled release date for Settlers IV was delayed. As with any change of publisher, a delay was expected, but Ubi Soft additionally wanted to guarantee that the game's distribution went as smoothly as possible.
One of the most popular series in the history of video games: The Settlers Series is a well-known economic strategy simulation. Selling nearly 3 million copies so far, the next instalment is highly anticipated and will surely not disappoint fans and casual gamers alike. Lucky gamers in German speaking territories have been able to experience the magic of Settlers IV, already.
Yves Guillemot, President and CEO of Ubi Soft, added: "As Blue Byte's teams are the leading specialists in the field, together we endeavoured to see that this wonderful game will now captivate players around the world."
THE SETTLERS IV is a PC-CDROM computer game that builds on the tried-and-true game principle of the preceding Settlers games, but is in essence a very new game. Fans will be able to recognise "their" Settlers, but also discover a number of innovations and new details.
The objective of the game is to build up a colony with a thriving construction and mining industry, food, tool and weapon production. The player's skilful use of resources, combined with the irrepressible get-up-and-go of the diverse Settler characters, form the foundation for a robust colony.
Key new features to Settlers IV include incredibly detailed graphics in which the characters, buildings and landscapes take on a new level of quality, with abundant animations of wildlife and scenery making settlements look all the more idyllic. The improved zoom function makes viewing even the smallest details a new pleasure. Additionally, 2 new tribes, Mayans and Vikings have been added as well as "The Dark Tribe" being given a much larger role in the game. To enhance the enjoyment far more, there is also a completely new game element, pleasingly fusing the construction component and strategic elements of The Settlers more closely together.
Plenty of new ingredients have been added to the action when societies collide. Mayans have paralysing blowguns and the Vikings an oversized explosive hammer. Also new to the game is magic. Unique spells can be gained by each side after priests have been recruited to build temples, casting spells from crop blessing to offensive hail storms. The class of saboteur makes a welcome fighting entry in the multi-player game, too (via LAN or the Blue Byte online gaming portal).
Ubi Soft wishes fans hours and hours of fun playing Settlers IV!
As for the next step, there will be more in The Settlers Series and Ubi Soft also aims to make The Settlers a global leader as well as developing it on a variety of other platforms, including PlayStation 2 and Game Cube. Thomas Hertzler, founder and head of Blue Byte, stated: "Ubi Soft's backing will help make our products better known because it will allow them to be adapted quickly to new generation consoles."