Sid Meier

Sid Meier needs no introduction on PC Gamer, but let's whizz through a brief highlight reel: co-founder of Microprose and early simulation pioneer, one of the first developers to become a 'name' on the box with Sid Meier's Pirates!, then later founder of Firaxis and the driving force behind the Civilization series. Meier has been working in the industry since 1980 and over four decades later has an incredible living legacy: the guy knows what he's talking about. And right now, Sid Meier reckons the industry has gone down the wrong path on monetisation.

1991 was an impressive year for video game releases. Sonic the Hedgehog, with his colourful, fast-paced, ring collecting was the top-selling title. People were also bashing buttons until their fingers were sore, playing Street Fighter 2. Few could have guessed at the time that one of the releases to have...

Game designer Sid Meier has shared his thoughts on monetisation within the games industry, and warned that it can jeopardise “making great games”. Speaking to the BBC for the 30th anniversary of Civilization, Meier warned that trying to monetise games can end up harming them. Meier explained that...

Civilization creator Sid Meier, a veteran of games development, has spoken out about the industry's ongoing push towards further monetisation. Speaking to BBC News on the 30th anniversary of the original Civilization's release, Meier issued a stark warning that progress in game development was beginning to forget about gameplay itself.

A few days before his birthday, it is difficult to tell whether Sid Meier is about to turn 68 or 16. The Canadian-American video game programmer and designer, best known for his Civilization turn-based strategy series, speaks about his work with such enthusiasm, you would suspect that he barely considers it work at all. “After college, I just wanted to do cool things with computers,” he says, smiling over Zoom, from his home in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sid Meier is famous for creating the video game Civilization. He’s also known for having his name on the box. Meier released Civilization thirty years ago this month, after developing it with Bruce Shelley, a veteran board-game designer. The pair were inspired by the illustrated history books you might find on a middle-school library shelf, and by titles like Seven Cities of Gold (1984), a video game of Spanish conquest created by the designer Danielle Berry. In Civilization, you start with a covered wagon on a map that is largely obscured. You found a city. You learn metalwork, horse riding, feudalism, democracy, and diplomatic relations. Eventually, the rest of the world is revealed—a patchwork of nations. You can dominate your neighbors or strive to outshine them. History rolls on.