Civilization Network headed to Facebook next year, for free.

Sid Meier—yes, the Sid Meier—just posted a note to Facebook announcing Civilization Network, which “will allow you to join together with your friends to create the world’s most powerful, richest, smartest, or just plain coolest civilization.” It will probably be huge, yes.

The game, which comes to Facebook sometime next year, is currently in development, and a closed beta will begin “soon.” Meier describes the game as having been borne from his desire to expose the Civilization world (what an odd phrase) to the “uniqueness” of social networks.

What that means, of course, is anyone’s guess. Details are pretty scare, as you can imagine.

One key point: it will be totally free to play, which ensures that it at least has the potential to go viral, which is all the rage these days.