Looks like Civ 6 is done: Kevin called April "final game update"

[Mik1984]

That is not a good way to communicate with your customers to float the end of life idea, but not confirm it.

 

[Duke William of Normandy]

That is not a good way to communicate with your customers to float the end of life idea, but not confirm it.

I guess they follow the philosophy of "say stuff as vaguely as possible to hype up whatever we want hyped"

 

[Stilgar08]

Seriously. If THAT is not a clear sign, that there's more to come than I don't have my senses together...

And I'm welcoming that very much!

 

[pokiehl]

Seriously. If THAT is not a clear sign, that there's more to come than I don't have my senses together...

View attachment 593262
And I'm welcoming that very much!

I’m interpreting it the exact opposite as you. They said “final FREE update” today as @DWilson said above. To me they’re just emphasizing the free portion - the update is final as well as free.

I don’t interpret it as “the last free update - but we have more paid ones.” That doesn’t make any sense to me at all. They have released free patches along with every single piece of dlc they’ve ever had, and doubtlessly would have to put out at least one free patch after any more content for balancing or bug fixing.

 

[InsidiousMage]

Yeah, I'm really disliking all of the ambiguity about what's coming next. I get not wanting to commit to anything but Firaxis has been so vague and inconsistent with their phrasing to basically let people imagine anything might be next. Like "last free update" doesn't exclude for individual civ DLC, a proper expansion or another NFP minus the free updates. If Firaxis isn't going say whether or not NFP is the end of Civ6 then they just need to say they are considering their options and leave it at that.

 

[blackbutterfly]

I don’t interpret it as “the last free update - but we have more paid ones.”

Nor me.

"That's All Folks!" is how I interpret it.

However, is this gonna be the last patch of Civ VI? There are way too many bugs in Civ VI that I doubt are gonna get fixed in this next huge community update. (In fact, if anything it's gonna introduce more regressions).

 

[Duke William of Normandy]

To everyone, this what I feel this tweet means:

(I'm just trying to be honest here...)

 

[pokiehl]

However, is this gonna be the last patch of Civ VI? There are way too many bugs in Civ VI that I doubt are gonna get fixed in this next huge community update. (In fact, if anything it's gonna introduce more regressions).

Sure but realistically speaking there’s no feasible stopping point for the game where most people would agree there’s nothing more that can be done for the game.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Firaxis:

Civfanatics: That could mean ANYTHING!!!

 

[Stilgar08]

Why in the world should you emphasize "FREE" if there is not any "unfree" content on its way?
Final would have been enough.
I thought, the OP was overreacting to the formulation of Kevin in the first place. Could be, that I'm overreacting now...

 

[pokiehl]

Why in the world should you emphasize "FREE" if there is not any "unfree" content on its way?
Final would have been enough.
I thought, the OP was overreacting to the formulation of Kevin in the first place. Could be, that I'm overreacting now...

because gamers constantly whine and complain about paid content + all of the major NFP advertised content has been paid. It’s worthwhile to emphasize that this is free. It garners much more attention.

 

[Stilgar08]

because gamers constantly whine and complain about paid content + all of the major NFP advertised content has been paid. It’s worthwhile to emphasize that this is free. It garners much more attention.

Let's agree to disagree.
We'll see if somethings coming in May /June at the earliest so if you think about it, it doesn't really matter yet.

 

[SandFli]

To me, the emphasis on 'FREE', in combination with the word Final suggests they are likely weighing their options, particularly with the currently imposed restrictions causing problems.

I question why Firaxis would end Civ VI now, with it's established player base, plus room for improvement & additional content, in order to take the time necessary to develop Civ VII (or some other title), as this would basically remove all competition to Humankind (& Old World), clearing a path for them to become dominant over the genre for some time. It may be that, due to engine and design limitations, Civilization VI cannot continue further, which is an unfortunate coincidence if so, or clever observation and timing on the part of the competition.

Are they admitting [temporary] defeat against Humankind and in tactical retreat, to wait and see?
Or are they prepared to devote a splinter team to continue development, saving the best paid content for last, in order to remain relevant and further revenue?

In the case of the former, a Civilization VII would have to be an altogether better game than both Civ VI and Humankind, so it suggests quite some time is required to improve the fundamental concept and implementation, in which time risk increases as some market share is lost, and other entries have already released expansions. Otherwise, if Civ VII is rushed to early release, complaints about vanilla V and VI will snowball, and darker times are indeed ahead for the series.

Although it's early, the question is, for those with both Humankind/ Old World and Civ VI, would you still buy an expansion/ pass for Civ VI, or opt to wait for an improved base game in the form of Civ VII?

 

[Mik1984]

If they want to leave their options open, they could just say that. Not this floating of the idea, but never officially announcing it.

 

[pokiehl]

Are they admitting [temporary] defeat against Humankind and in tactical retreat, to wait and see?

How has Civ 6 (the most financially successful entry in the series ever) been “defeated” by a game that isn’t out and has been delayed twice so far, the last time less than a month before the slated release date? Did anyone here play the same Humankind OpenDevs that I did? Didn’t leave me hopeful.

Bottom line is you guys are trying to create some weird narrative about Humankind “hurting” civ in some way which just makes absolutely no sense at the moment.

 

[SandFli]

How has Civ 6 (the most financially successful entry in the series ever) been “defeated” by a game that isn’t out and has been delayed twice so far, the last time less than a month before the slated release date? Did anyone here play the same Humankind OpenDevs that I did? Didn’t leave me hopeful.
Bottom line is you guys are trying to create some weird narrative about Humankind “hurting” civ in some way which just makes absolutely no sense at the moment.

Defeat may have been the wrong choice of wording, but the question of whether they are watching and waiting seems reasonable. The financial success and continued popularity of Civ VI is the reason why I question the thinking (of some) that Firaxis would end development now. Humankind has its differences, and I'm also yet to be convinced.
It is too early to judge or predict any impact, yes. But the level of interest in Humankind here is clear, and without further content from Civ VI, it seems plausible that a number of fans will start to wander.

 

[aieeegrunt]

Humankind isn’t even out yet, I doubt Fireaxis is planning around them

This reminds me of all the Outer Worlds hype before it came out and then proved to be typically mundane Obsidian fodder.

Fallout was killed by Bethesda’s own trend chasing incompetence

The only ones who can “kill” the Civ franchise are Fireaxis

What this announcement says to me is this is the last FREE update, not neccessarily the last update period. If Fireaxis percieves enough of a demand for more paid content that it will make money, there will be more paid content and really there is nothing wrong with that

Personally I feel like I got my money’s worth with Civ6, my only complaint is that it feels like it needs more polish, and I wish mods were available on console.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I don’t interpret it as “the last free update - but we have more paid ones.” That doesn’t make any sense to me at all. They have released free patches along with every single piece of dlc they’ve ever had, and doubtlessly would have to put out at least one free patch after any more content for balancing or bug fixing.

I agree that this means it probably will be it for Civ 6 the way they worded it, unless they worded it wrong. That is paid content has always come with free updates, so I doubt there would be any more paid content after the Portugal pack.
That doesn't mean they won't include something big, such as another civ or leader, for free this month even if it's a large stretch.

Firaxis:

Civfanatics: That could mean ANYTHING!!!

Well I like to eat spaghetti.
Usually when I eat spaghetti, it's with a fork so I have to put a fork in it.
And spaghetti comes from Italy.

 

[Menocchio]

Also, the launcher updated. In my experience, a new launcher typically represents either a shift in the company's direction (i.e. developing a new game in earnest) or, generally, the end-of-life stage of a game as we see here. In other words, a new launcher is historically a good bellwether of the game being finished.

 

[Uberfrog]

Also, the launcher updated. In my experience, a new launcher typically represents either a shift in the company's direction (i.e. developing a new game in earnest) or, generally, the end-of-life stage of a game as we see here. In other words, a new launcher is historically a good bellwether of the game being finished.

Huh? This is at least the third new launcher released in Civ 6’s lifespan!

I agree that there won’t be any future DLC for Civ 6, but I promise you the 2K launcher has nothing to do with it.