The official Civilization V website is reporting that the demo for this strategy title will be released on September 21, the same day that the game is released in North America.

They explain further; "The question many of you are probably asking now is “didn’t you say it would be available before the release date?” The answer to that question is yes, I did. At the time of that announcement, we expected to be able to get the demo out before the 21st, but unfortunately we weren’t able to finalize it in the timeframe we had initially planned, and for that we’re very sorry."

Fortunately this won't affect kiwis too much - the title is due for release on the 24th September in New Zealand, providing prospective customers with several days to try the demo before deciding whether to part with their money.