Civilization VII is still being outperformed by Civilization V and Civilization VI in player counts. Civilization V outperforming a game that is fifteen years younger than it is surprising, but I should probably be aware that it was possible within our context of the increasing global nature of gaming in our age. Gaming was always global to some extent but there many players uploading videos on YouTube from Vietnam or Egypt who actively play 20-year-old games on their computers as that is their interest and most importantly, their budget for their computers. This tech debt from the Windows XP era is quite noticeable now.
Civilization VII has had a slight increase in its player base over the past couple months. However, this is small increase and mostly because of its DLCs. The game does have a player base unlike some games that have thousands of players upon launch and then you check a couple months later and hardly anyone is playing it. However, this is a game which is still unable to surpass Civilization VI months after release.
What is quite noticeable is that Civilization VII was barely able to surpass the peak player count of Civilization VI in its launch month. Another issue is the week that it was Kingdom Come 2: Deliverance was taking its energy away. While the games are different genres, their player bases overlap more than say a platformer game. Kingdom Come 2 greatly surpassed the original game’s peak player count. Civilization VII had to contend with six different games that came out before it. This is quite the legacy you have to live up to. At some point, the Civilization series was going to reach its creative plateau because it had basically forgotten its player base.
The game is honestly not that good at giving the player a sense of scale. It’s not the realism which players crave but the scale and macro nature of the earlier games.
I have stated many times on here that Civilization VII is a game that does not have unique moments such as this on a macro scale. Playing as China in that game and having Persia launch a nuclear attack on my Communist nation was truly edge of your set material in an old game.
Another interesting moment are the text boxes in Civilization III. I had the Koreans attempting to manipulate my politics. Such little boxes help to flesh out the virtual history playing out on screen. That is what Civilization VII is missing here.
Civilization VI had a decline in player counts as well, but they were not the same. Civilization VII’s player base is smaller and has more competition from not just other games but older Civilization titles. This makes the act of getting the game to surpass both Civilization V and Civilization much tougher in comparison. Civilization VII is simply not better than Civilization VI as it is product of an age in the industry where style means more than substance.
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