Firaxis co-founder Sid Meier at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City

Last Friday, Civilization creator Sid Meier held court before a handful of journalists at New York City's famous Algonquin Hotel. Because of a previous engagement, we arrived unfashionably late, just ten minutes before the event wound down. But tardiness, it turns out, has its rewards. As the Vicious Circle assembled journalists filed out--and as we ate our filet mignon lunch at Meier and his wife's insistence--the legend of turn-based strategy games agreed to remain a while longer and answer some of our questions. That's how we secured this exclusive, in which Meier explained his diplomatic reaction to last week's news that Electronic Arts is seeking to purchase Take-Two. Here's what Meier had to say:

How are you being affected by the news of the possibility of Electronic Arts acquiring Take-Two, and by extension [Meier's company] Firaxis Games? How do you feel about those prospects, especially in light of the recent remarks by Electronic Arts executives about its new organizational structure--

Right.

--and this whole city-state model, in which Firaxis presumably would be, I don't know, a province in ancient Rome.

[Laughs.] Those are good words. We worked with Electronic Arts ten years ago. We respect them highly as a company. They're a great company. We enjoy working with Take-Two. We'll let them sort that out [laughs]. Take-Two has been very good about giving us the creative freedom to do the best games that we can, and I think what Electronic Arts is saying is really along the same directions. That's really our priority, to really be able make the best games that we can. And both those publishers would give us that opportunity. We'll let them work that out.

So you have to wait and see, but at least you feel as though EA is saying the right things publicly.

Yeah. I think they have a commitment to great games, and that's what's important to us.