Civilization 7 has had a rough launch on Steam — that much is clear. The strategy sequel has struggled for players on Valve’s platform ever since its launch in February. Reaction is ‘mixed,’ according to Steam user reviews. And despite a number of patches issued by developer Firaxis to reverse the sentiment, Civilization 7 finds itself in the unenviable situation of having fewer players on Steam than Civilization 6 and even the 15-year-old Civilization 5.
Civ 7’s Steam performance does not paint the entire picture, of course. The game also launched on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch (a Nintendo Switch 2 version that makes use of the new Joy-Con mouse controls will soon release). But Civilization’s bread and butter is PC, and there Civ 7 is clearly struggling.
You’d think, then, that Firaxis parent company Take-Two wouldn’t be best pleased. But speaking to IGN in an interview ahead of the company’s latest financial results, CEO Strauss Zelnick told me he was “thrilled” with Civ 7 so far.
“I’m thrilled with Civ 7 so far,” Zelnick began. “However, there were some issues initially, and our team at Firaxis has done a great job addressing those issues. There’s more work to be done. I’m optimistic that work will be done and will suit consumers, and ultimately that we have a very successful title on our hands.”
Zelnick then pointed to the Civilization franchise’s tendency to have a long sales cycle, at least compared to many other games, and his belief that Civ 7 will follow suit.
“The history of all the Civilization releases is that initially some of the changes that we make cause consternation among our consumers because they love the Civilization franchise so much,” he said.
“And then people realize, oh, this really is an improvement and over a long sales cycle, we do really well. I think that’s what’ll happen here too.
“But undoubtedly, we had some issues in the beginning, which we’ve addressed partially and continue to address.”
Rank every Civilization Game
Rank every Civilization Game
When Civ 7 launched, players highlighted issues with the user interface, a lack of map variety, and expressed a feeling that the game launched without a number of features they’d come to expect from the franchise.
Zelnick’s mention of hardcore Civ players being a little nervous about Civ 7 at launch is no-doubt a reference to some of the dramatic changes Firaxis made to the game.
A full campaign in Civilization 7 is one that goes through all three Ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. Once the Age is completed, all players (and any AI opponents) experience an Age Transition simultaneously. During an Age Transition, three things happen: you select a new civilization from the new Age to represent your empire, you choose which Legacies you want to retain in the new Age, and the game world evolves. The Civilization games have never had such a system. Clearly, Zelnick believes Civ fans will come to love it over time.
Take-Two has yet to announce a sales figure for Civilization 7, but in its financial report said it was “pursuing opportunities to expand the audience,” including the recent launch of Civilization 7 VR for Meta Quest 3 and 3S, as well as the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 port.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
