[Wolfman77]

There is a large user base for the SE games, pretty much all will buy SEV regardless if its online or retail. Retail is the way to get the game infront of as many people as posible. I found the SEII demo on a group diskin the late 90's. I now have II,III,and IV, so it does get the game out there. If they don't overspend on advertising, they should do well. as far as the market for the game, civilization (just to name one) is still making new games, so there is most likely a good market for 4x games. as far as the lasting appeal to the geleral gamers, it needs alot of AI improvement over IV. not just for the opponents, but so you can do less micromanaging (if you want to) and have the computer do things apropriately. Bottom line though is, unless they overspend on advertizing the game will make more money going retail.