[Evil_Duckie]

There's only a small number of computer games that manage to grab, and hold, my attention for a longer period of time. SE4 is one of them (as well as the SimCity and Civilization series, I keep going back to them). Unfortunately, they're not really the kind of games that sell well. If SE5 is going to go retail, it'll have to compete with the 3D shooters, sports and race games that are so popular at the moment. Tough job.

Coincidentally, a Belgian pc games magazine (imho the best on the Dutch market, as it focuses only on pc games) reviewed 3 games published by Matrix Games last month. 2 of the 3 were similar to SE: stat-heavy strategy games for the 'serious' gamer. They got mediocre scores because of the low-tech graphics and the 'lack of action'.

I don't think the general public will become excited about SE5 and I seriously hope this won't affect a possible SE6 (or the community) in a negative way.