Distant Worlds: Universe Steam Page and New Video Trailer

[Erik Rutins]

For those that are curious... [8D]

Editing this to add comprehensive release info:

Hi Everyone,

Some major news today:

Distant Worlds: Universe is the entire Distant Worlds series in one package, including the new Universe expansion which greatly improves moddability (make your own governments, research trees, resources, components, events, etc.) a new Ancient Galaxy storyline that also serves as a reference mod and performance and AI improvements.

It will release on May 23rd through our Online Store as well as, for the first time ever, through Steam. As this includes both the new Universe expansion with greatly expanded modding support and the Ancient Galaxy storyline plus all previous releases, it will give new customers and existing customers a unified installation for future support and modding and a great affordable entry point to the series.

The Steam page is now live along with a brand new Trailer Video:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/261470/

Our own product page is here:

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/515 ... -.Universe

The base price of Distant Worlds: Universe will be $59.99 Download / $74.99 Physical. This represents a significant discount over the previous series bundle. The Physical version is only available through our store and includes an updated and full color printed Distant Worlds series game manual.

For the release, it will be available at a pre-order price of $49.99 Download / $64.99 physical. This will be the pre-order price through Steam. As we don't do pre-orders through our own store, this will be our release price as well, with a post-release promotional period as with past Distant Worlds releases that allows early adopters to get the game for a lower price, after which it will revert to the permanent $59.99 / $74.99 price level.

We will also be offering existing customers a discount based on what parts of the series they own. It's a $10 discount per release, so if you own everything that's been released so far (Distant Worlds + Return of the Shakturi + Legends + Shadows) then during the post-release promotion period, your price to upgrade to Universe would be $9.99 Download or $24.99 Physical ($49.99 or $64.99 - $40 discount for four previous releases). There will be a page on our site where you can get the upgrade discount coupon. This upgrade will be available through our store only, we don't have a way of doing this through Steam. All you will need to get the upgrade coupon is the serial number for each release.

We'll be offering Steam keys to customers who upgrade and purchase through our site.

The release will be on May 23rd.

We plan for there to be one more Shadows update, but all future modding/feature/performance improvements will be based on the Universe level.

Regards,

- Erik

[OverlordCW]

Will we get a steam key, if we buy on the matrix store?

[ASHBERY76]

The trailer is great.

[StarLab]

It says 2 May as the release date?!?

Otherwise cool to see! [8D]

[Icemania]

That is really terrific news! Well done Matrix!

Hopefully quite a few of us here will join the Steam Forums to help out new players. I trust you have some Steam Moderation support lined up...

[Erik Rutins]

Yes, if you purchase/upgrade through our store we will offer a Steam key as well. We and Elliot earn the most revenue when you purchase directly through us, but we want to make DW available to the larger community and many new players as well, while offering the most flexibility to our existing community. There will be a page on our site to use your Universe serial number to retrieve a Steam key after you purchase Universe.

Yes, we'll be monitoring the Steam forums as well and we would greatly appreciate the help of our existing community to help guide new players as th take their first steps with Distant Worlds once it's available on Steam.

Saw that as well Starlab, don't know what's up with that, I assume it's a Steam glitch. We're contacting them but I can confirm the 23rd is the actual release date.

Regards,

- Erik

[FingNewGuy]

ORIGINAL: StarLab

It says 2 May as the release date?!?

Otherwise cool to see! [8D]

23 May is the release date. [8D]

Apologies: Erik's post in response to StarLab's question had not ben posted yet when I answered.

[Osito]

ORIGINAL: Icemania

That is really terrific news! Well done Matrix!

Hopefully quite a few of us here will join the Steam Forums to help out new players. I trust you have some Steam Moderation support lined up...

Yeah, I'll certainly post on there - unless Matrix pm's me to say, 'please don't!'

Great news all round, Erik, thank you. The 23rd is sooner than I was expecting.

Just want to join the clamour for certain additional information:

1. Will we be able to put our mods up on Steamwoks?
2. Will the people who have already bought the game via Matrix geta steam key, as long as they upgrade to Universe - I'm guessing they will, as that seems to be the case for most games, and is obviously a good move from a customer service perspective? [Edit, Erik answered before I posted, so this question is now redundant]

Osito

[ASHBERY76]

Steam forums is bandit country.I try to avoid it.

[Upuauta]

ORIGINAL: ASHBERY76

Steam forums is bandit country.I try to avoid it.

Sometimes the cavalry has to rush in and help out.

[tjhkkr]

I was not planning on doing Steam myself, but the advertisement is awesome!

[Mad Igor]

steam,huh ? i thought it's not that simple to surprise me.
even DW is eaten by this darkness of monopoly.

[kirk23]

I really hope that to play the game in the future,that you don't need to have a steam account.If the dreaded DRM issue re-appears,then this is where my involvement with Distant Worlds ends,I won't play via steam,not now not ever period.[:o]

[midnight_mangler]

I'm happy. Great stuff. Love this game.

I'll support you guys and Elliot of course.

[PipFromSlitherine]

You will always be able to purchase directly from us - it is in fact our preference.

Cheers

Pip

[Titan32]

Awesome.

Opening the game to Steam is great, can't wait to see the achievements!
Also, maybe you could think about including Workshop or Trading Cards [;)]

About the trailer, it's beautiful. But from 0:13 to 0:22, it tells me we're now able to play on two galaxies at the same time, right? [:D]

Anyway, I guess now Distant Worlds only needs multiplayer to be perfect [:'(]

[JiminyJickers]

Excellent, can't wait for the 23rd.

[chrisol]

It's a shame that the metacritic score shown is for the original release - things have come such a long way since then. Don't imagine it can easily be updated...

bw
Chris

[midnight_mangler]

We'll have to give word of mouth in the steam forums.

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: PipFromSlitherine

You will always be able to purchase directly from us - it is in fact our preference.

Cheers

Pip

Mine too. [;)]