In the world of strategy and simulation, few names are as recognizable as Sid Meier. Best known as the creator of Civilization, Meier has played a huge role in how both genres developed. Civilization itself has been incredibly influential in the development of 4X strategy games.
Sid Meier has a long and storied history in video games, even before titles started bearing his name. He was one of the original founder of Firaxis, which most recently released XCOM: Chimera Squad on PC.
There's a total of 26 games under the Sid Meier branding, although he's developed and produced much more than that. Meier's influence can still be seen to this day, and in 2017 he received the Life Achievement award at the Golden Joystick awards.
Sid Mier and His Influence on Strategy and Simulation Games
After meeting Bill Stealey in the early 80s the pair founded MicroProse in 1982. The first commercial game developed by Meier was Formula 1 Racing in 1982, and he worked on a variety of strategy and simulation titles at MicroProse. Sid Meier's Pirates! was the first game to bear Meier's name when it released in 1987. Pirates was an open-world simulation title and bore many of the features Meier's games would eventually become known for, like diplomatic relations between countries and dynamic city economies. The first Civilization game released in 1991 and, of course, would become the series that Meier was best known for.
MicroProse was purchased by Spectrum Holobyte in 1993, and practices by the parent company would eventually lead Meier to leave the company along with others and create Firaxis Games. He continued to create Civilization and other titles with Firaxis, including a spiritual successor to Sid Meier's Pirates. In 2005 Firaxis was purchased by 2K Games, and Meier's most recent game is Civilization VI, which has even been ported to Android and iOS.
- Sid Meier's Pirates! - 1987
- Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon - 1990
- Sid Meier's Civilization - 1991
- Pirates! Gold - 1993
- Sid Meier's Colonization - 1994
- Sid Meier's Civilization II - 1996
- Sid Meier's Gettysburg! - 1997
- Sid Meier's Antietam! - 1998
- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - 1999
- Sid Meier's Civilization III - 2001
- Sid Meier's SimGolf - 2002
- Sid Meier's Pirates! - 2004
- Sid Meier's Civilization IV - 2005
- Sid Meier's Railroads! - 2006
- Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution - 2008
- Sid Meier's Pirates! Mobile - 2008
- Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon Mobile - 2008
- Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization - 2008
- Sid Meier's Civilization V - 2010
- Sid Meier's CivWorld - 2011
- Sid Meier's Ace Patrol - 2013
- Sid Meier's Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies - 2013
- Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution 2 - 2014
- Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - 2014
- Sid Meier's Starships - 2015
- Sid Meier's Civilization VI - 2016
Sid Meier has one of the most storied careers in all of video games, and it's a testament to his talent that he's still developing games over 30 years later. While Civilization VI has consistently received new content, it'll be interesting to see what Sid Meier tackles next.