Bigben Interactive, Gameware and Fishing Cactus announce plans to revive the Creatures franchise with the release of a fourth installment in the artificial life series later this year, saying: "The approach will be to maintain the characteristics and integrity of the earlier games." The new Creatures will be launched as a free-to-play online game for Windows, OS X, and iOS, and the announcement adds: "A collector gift box full of surprises will also be created." We were able to confirm that the free-to-play game will be microtransaction-based, though "most of the content will be entirely free." The plan for the boxed edition is still TBD, so we'll wait for more details on that. Says Benoît Clerc of Bigben Interactive: "We are very pleased and proud to participate to the rebirth of such a precursor of the videogame’s history, a title which became mythical and has left its mark on many gamers. This new chapter, in Free to Play for PC and iOS, keeps all mechanisms of its distinguished predecessors and will gather new genuine gaming principles which will certainly seduce everyone."