Civilization 7 is on a rough release on Steam. That’s obvious. The strategy sequel has been struggling for players on Valve’s platform since its launch in February. According to Steam users’ reviews, the response is “mixed.” And despite the many patches that developer Firaxis has issued to reverse emotions, Civilization 7 has found itself in a situation where it is unable to have fewer players on Steam. Civilization 6 And even at 15 years old Civilization 5.
Of course, Steam Performance in Civ 7 doesn’t draw the big picture. The game was also released on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch (Nintendo Switch 2 version soon, which utilizes the new Joy-Con mouse control). However, the bread and butter of civilization is PC, and Civ 7 is clearly struggling.
So you’d think that Firaxis’ parent company Take-Two is not the best. However, CEO Strauss Zelnick, who spoke to Passthecontroller in an interview ahead of the company’s latest financial results, has said he’s been “excited” with Civ 7 so far.
“I’ve been excited about Civ 7 up until now,” Zelnick began. “But there were a few issues at first, and the Firaxis team did an amazing job of addressing those issues. There’s more to do. I’m optimistic that the work is done, tailored to the consumer, and ultimately have a very successful title.”
Zelnick then pointed to the trend of civilised franchises having a long sales cycle, at least compared to many other games, pointing to his belief that Civ 7 would follow suit.
“The history of the release of all civilizations is that some of the changes we make at first raises surprises among consumers because they love the civilization’s franchise so much,” he said.
“And people say, this is really an improvement, beyond the long sales cycle, we’re doing really well, and I think that’s going to happen here too.
“But there were definitely some issues at first. We’ve been dealing with this in part and we’re continuing to address it.”
Rank all civilization games
Rank all civilization games
When Civ 7 was released, players highlighted the issue of the user interface, the lack of diversity in the map, and expressed the sense that the game was launched without the many features you would expect from the franchise.
The mention of Zelnick’s hardcore Civing players being a bit nervous about Civ 7 at launch is not a reference to some of the dramatic changes they have made to the game.
The complete campaign of Civilization 7 is something that experiences all three ages: ancient, exploration and modern. Once the age is complete, all players (and AI opponents) will experience an age transition at the same time. Three things happen during the transition of age. You choose new civilizations from new eras to represent your empire, choose the heritage you want to keep in the new era, and the game world evolves. Civilization games did not have such a system. Obviously, Zelnick believes that civic fans will become more and more loved it over time.
Although Take-Two has not yet released sales figures for Civilization 7, its financial report states it will “pursuit opportunities to expand its audience” including the recent launch of MetaQuest 3 and 3 Civilization 7 VR, as well as the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 port.
Wesley is the UK news editor at Passthecontroller. Find him on @wyp100’s Twitter. You can contact Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
