How is a “civil complaint” different from a lawsuit?
A criminal case requires a crime be reported to the police. An attorney will be appointed for you if you don't have one. If found guilty you could go to prison.
A civil case doesn't provide you with the Constitutional rights that a criminal case does. The penalty is monetary. No jail time. That's what the Watson case is. Money.
Consider the OJ case. He was found to be "not guilty" in a criminal court. Then Nicole Goldman's family brought a civil case against him. He lost and was ordered to pay $33.5 million.
So in this case Watson might have to pay these women (and their lawyer) a lot of money.