Civilization 7 has been a rather controversial entry in the long-running 4X strategy franchise. Civ 7 made some significant changes to the series formula, implementing a radically different Age system, and introducing the ability to pair a leader with any Civilization. On top of those changes, Civilization 7 suffered from some performance and design issues at launch, with fans and critics alike taking issue with the game's UI, among other things.
This initial and ongoing controversy has led Civilization 7's active player count to gradually decline over the last few months. According to tracking site SteamDB, Civilization 7's peak player count was 84,558 back in February. At the time of writing, it's at an all-time low of just 6,818 concurrent players on Steam. The console side of things is unclear, but with PC usually being Civ's primary audience, the numbers don't paint a great picture. But there's hope yet for Civilization 7.
Civilization 7: Why You Should Choose Qing China for the Modern Age
Qing China turns imports into culture, gold, and influence, making it the best pick in Civilization 7 for an Economic Victory route.
This is Just The Beginning for Civilization 7
Another Civilization 7 Port is on the Way
Civilization 7 is landing on Nintendo Switch 2 on its June 5 launch. While the Switch 2's launch line-up is arguably much stronger than the original's, with a new Mario Kart, tons of upgraded Switch 1 games, and plenty of major third-party releases, there's still a strong possibility that early adopters of Nintendo's next hybrid console will want to pick up everything they can on launch day. This could lead to Civilization 7 getting a second wind, albeit on a completely new platform.
A big caveat to this, however, is that Civilization 7 needs to actually run well on the Nintendo Switch 2. Fans still have some sizable issues with Civ 7's performance on console, and those issues certainly won't do the game any favors if they're present in the Switch 2 version as well.
Civilization 7 Has Plenty in the Pipeline
Developer Firaxis has already released one expansion for Civilization 7, and it didn't go down too well. Many fans took the DLC and its $30 price tag as a bit of an insult, given that many deemed the base game to be unfinished. Naturally, Firaxis wants to avoid yet another round of controversy, so it's decided to delay its "Right to Rule" expansion by a few months to focus on remedying Civ 7's key issues.
When Firaxis has fixed those core issues, and when more content starts to roll out, there's a possibility that Civilization 7 could see a resurgence in active players. Of course, there are controversial elements of Civ 7 that can't simply be removed due to them being inherent parts of the game, but fixing the UI and some other elements could bring some fans back around.
Civilization 7's $70 price tag is undoubtedly a bit too steep for some who are still on the fence. It might find more players when it eventually goes on sale.
This is a somewhat common cycle for the Civilization franchise. A new entry will come out, it has some clear issues, Firaxis works out the kinks, and the game gets a resurgence a year or so after launch, often coinciding with a big expansion. That's not to say that fans shouldn't be disappointed Civilization 7 isn't what they were hoping for, but there's a chance it could be received a bit better later down the line.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 79 /100 Critics Rec: 77%
- Released
- February 11, 2025
- ESRB
- Everyone 10+ // Alcohol and Tobacco Reference, Mild Language, Mild Violence, Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Firaxis Games
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Grand Strategy, Turn-Based Strategy, 4X
