2K Games and Firaxis have announced "Civilization IV: Warlords," the first expansion to the popular turn-based strategy game that is set to be released this summer.

"Since its October 2005 release, Sid Meier's Civilization IV has sold over a million units worldwide and was named both PC and Strategy Game of the Year by GameSpot. An all-new expansion pack, Warlords pays homage to some of history's greatest military leaders, delivering six new scenarios, giving players the chance to change the course of history with the help of their new powerful "warlord" unit. The expansion pack is loaded with new civilizations, new leaders and more units, resources and wonders that can be used in both single and multiplayer games.

"Civilization IV has been a great success for us," said Christoph Hartmann, Managing Director of 2K Games. "We believe Warlords will exceed the extremely high demands of gamers worldwide with new additions to its already successful formula."

Created in 1991 by industry legend Sid Meier, the Sid Meier's Civilization franchise has been internationally recognized as one of the greatest PC game franchises of all time. Each Civilization is a turn-based strategy game that challenges players to build and expand an empire throughout all of human history in order to become the most powerful ruler in the world. As the latest game in the series, Civilization IV has won countless Game of the Year awards from print and online publications around the world, including North American publications such as PC Gamer, Computer Games, IGN, GameSpy and GameSpot. Most recently, Sid Meier's Civilization IV was named Best Strategy Game in the Ninth Annual Interactive Achievement Awards held by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.

"We're very happy with the success of Civilization IV," said Sid Meier, Director of Creative Development for Firaxis Games. "Within days of its release, gamers around the world were fully addicted, staying up late at night and just hoping for 'one more turn'...what could be better! Warlords will feed that addiction with more of everything gamers want."

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords will require the full version of Sid Meier's Civilization IV and will be released for PC this summer."