It is quite clear now that Civilization VII is going to be dark age of the Civilization franchise. Considering how successful it has been over the past 30 years, the stumbling of Civilization VII probably hurts the franchise more now than if it had happened with the earlier sequels.

Civilization as a franchise has been seen as a titan in its own genre. However, there is always a time where a franchise ends up unable to balance innovation with a respect for people who spent hours playing and the vibrant modding scene that helped breathe life into these games. The obsession with optimizing gameplay is one of the reasons why the AAA gaming space is in decline and independent companies are being handed the torch by customers who want quality games that are not just content on a screen.

Civilization III always felt more like a Civ game than any of the games after Civ IV. In this screenshot above you can see how the game tried to simulate diplomacy has having more than just leaders speak at each other. The foreign advisor gave very useful information about military strength, cultural strength and resources available for sale.

The early Civilization games were more than just painting a map. They were about building a civilization with warts and all.

In the 1990s, due to the genre being smaller and more niche, gamers could be more forgiving of errors. However, the genre has many more casual fans who paradoxically want more sophistication in games but not too much. Firaxis has a great issue here. They either cut budgets and focus on a smaller audience or increase budgets to AAA levels and end up alienating the hardcore fanbase that keeps the games vibrant and profitable beyond the initial releases.

As the cost of making games increases, there is more of a need for game companies to sell out to the mainstream.

The mainstream is not really interested in highbrow games and really only tolerate them if they are worth their interest at the start. The hardcore fans are willing to stay with a game and even improve it if it is not meeting their expectations.

However, there comes a breaking point where hardcore fans are unwilling to accept mediocrity passing off as excellence.

Civilization VII proves true the axiom; beauty is only skin deep. The woman above in the screenshot is probably too well dressed for an Ancient Japanese woman in the Jomon era but Civilization VII’s developers spent more time with aesthetics rather than making a functional game. A game is not a Tech Demo, which is mainly about the aesthetics. It is something to be used actively by the player not just looked at like a painting on a wall in my opinion.

Civilization VII was basically ignoring the hardcore fans in favor of going after the casual fans. This explains why Firaxis was wasting their time with making a VR version of Civilization VII when they haven’t even improved the gameplay in the PC version of the game.

Meta’s Quest 3 is not a piece of hardware made for Civilization VII. Whatever version of Civilization VII they have for the Quest 3, it is a novelty item just like the Power Glove and the Virtua Boy for the Nintendo. There is no reason for why the game is on this platform especially so soon after the release of the game in February.

Why Civilization VI is surpassing Civilization VII on Steam?

There is a simple reason why the game is doing so poorly on Steam. It isn’t a worthy successor to the sixth game. Having the name “Civilization” on the title isn’t enough to sell a game now. You need to earn the respect of the gamers who made Civilization what it is. The man who played a Civilization II for so many years is the type of player who keeps games that came out that early in public consciousness.

Who is going to be playing a 15 year old game of Civilization VII? The movement away from sandbox gameplay is one of the reasons why people are not staying with this game.

The sixth game had its issues, but it had its fanbase that was willing to support it. Civilization VI peaked at about 160,000 players when it came out. In comparison, Civilization VII was only able to get about slightly above 84,000 players. Civilization VII was also being surpassed by Civilization VI numbers quickly after its release.

Civilization VI released in October 2016. It still the most popular and successful of all the Civilization games. I show you this screenshot of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon wonder to emphasize how this game in spite of its flaws was well made.

Civilization V and Civilization V were similar enough to synergize with one another. Civilization VII, in its pursuit of being different to distract from its own quality issues, is simply not appealing to enough new fans for it to stand on its own.

Civilization VI has been pretty strong in its player count since the release of Civ 7. It has been hovering around 30,000 players on the weekends. Civilization VII has basically disappeared from the grouping of top games. For such a heavyweight as the Civilization franchise, not being in the top games is a cause for concern. The Civilization games have been dominating the charts for many years and yet it seems to have run out of creative juices. The emergence of some competitors such as Humankind and Millenia.

The company who made Civilization VII has to understand that the standards are not the same. Instead of attempting to meet the challenge, they decided to hide the game under glossy advertising and music.

As much as Firaxis may want to spend their time thinking otherwise, Civilization VII is not doing so well right now. This is the time for bold action not doubling down on what is not working right now.

Why is Civilization VI better than Civilization VII?

In my opinion, Civilization VI’s Trajan vs Civilization VII’s Augustus is a clear sign of how quality was declining with the most recent release.

The answer is quite simple. Civilization VI is focused on making the fans happy rather than making a game which is only seen to prop up the company. Civilization VII seems like a game that was made for people who dislike Civilization games and that was an error in the how they were approaching the development of this game.

We should not have an issue with people not finishing their games. That should be the main interest of someone making a sequel to one of the most beloved franchises in gaming history. They should focus on making the game fun, not focusing on problems that on the player not the person making the game.

Civilization VII’s problem: Not letting people not finish a game

Sometimes allowing a game to not be finished are the stories that are worth telling about it.

Civilization II famously had a player who spent years playing a game where it became engulfed in war and conflict. This was a game that was released in the PlayStation One era and yet it was still captivating many people. Unlike Civilization VII, I believe that many of the previous Civilization games, will continue to get praise in the years to come.

Civilization VII represents the dark age of a once great series.