Player stats, sales, and reception speculation thread

[Wrenched]

This feels like a critique of the metric not of the game. Like be realistic, do you actually think Civ7 is less popular than Revolution right now?

I am not sure. I just went looking for evidence to support or critique the theory that "there was a large exodus of active players from PC to consoles". I was surprised that Civ VII didn't appear anywhere on the Xbox charts actually. Maybe I checked at a non-ideal time.

To provide a little more context Anno 1800, Civ VI, Age of Empires IV, and Stellaris (in that order) appear slightly above Civ Revolutions. Age of Empires 2 and Crusader Kings III appear slightly lower than Revolutions. On the Xbox store Civ VII only has 348 reviews (2.5 stars average) so perhaps it, or strategy games altogether, is/are less popular on the Xbox ecosystem.

 

[Captain Lime]

I don't see the purpose of discussing whether or not there's a silent majority of console players who enjoy civ 7 when we have seen Firaxis change their post-launch timeline to prioritize gameplay improvements and then give an acknowledgement that some of their key features did not land the way they hoped. The only time that a developer would do these things is if they have data saying that something's wrong - which suggests that the steam reviews are not an exception.

 

[TylertheDestroyer]

This feels like a critique of the metric not of the game. Like be realistic, do you actually think Civ7 is less popular than Revolution right now?

On Xbox? Yeah maybe.

Revolutions was a game specifically designed for consoles, it sold well and was very acclaimed popular strategy game on the console . Not surprising that it still features on list of top played games on Xbox, just like Civ V does on PC.

 

[user746383]

I could also see CivRev having a very long tail. Popular in the retirement home maybe.

 

[Sagax]

I don't know sales figures for swith 2 but some may have switched from PC to it, due to lifestyle changes that made it more attractive than PC.

Genuine question, what kind of lifestyle changes make Civ 7 on S2 more attractive than PC? Every novelty feature for S2 tries to achieve UX parity with PC, but not surpass it. The only real net benefit is the ability to play on a larger TV monitor from the comfort of your living room, but even then the S2 Joy Cons are not a perfect replacement for PC mouse.

My question can be extended to other consoles as well. What benefits are there to the console versions that would make PC players want to switch to consoles - for a turn based strategy game, of all possible genres?

 

[user746383]

Maybe if you have some disability that prevents you from sitting at a computer chair or using a keyboard and mouse, for example.

 

[Nikolai II]

I guess if the UI is up to par (if...), sitting in the sofa is pretty relaxing compared to a PC + chair. But Civ6 at least was horrible to play with. I tried it again on Switch 2 the other day. I ended up not figuring out how to use the worker to anything...

 

[user746383]

I bought it on switch and personally found it unplayable due to performance (mainly because I have a fast PC, not in some universal sense), but if I didn’t have my PC or couldnt sit there long I could see playing it now and then for sure.

 

[CliffCo]

Genuine question, what kind of lifestyle changes make Civ 7 on S2 more attractive than PC? Every novelty feature for S2 tries to achieve UX parity with PC, but not surpass it. The only real net benefit is the ability to play on a larger TV monitor from the comfort of your living room, but even then the S2 Joy Cons are not a perfect replacement for PC mouse.

My question can be extended to other consoles as well. What benefits are there to the console versions that would make PC players want to switch to consoles - for a turn based strategy game, of all possible genres?

They may have started a new job where they travel often, or like Protocol7 mentioned have a new health condition.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Here are two quick sources -- will be curious to find more. They differ a bit both neither mentions Civ and both include upgrade packs.

I've just checked Nintendo store, both Zelda games have Switch 2 version, but so does Civ7 now. So, I'm not sure. I believe both sources you've mentioned use the same Nintendo best sellers page, just in some different time.

Anyway, it's totally possible Civ7 was counted and is not in top 15.

 

[Sagax]

They may have started a new job where they travel often, or like Protocol7 mentioned have a new health condition.

All fair scenarios. My next question would be how much of an impact such cases can really have on the overall PC to console exodus. And if not that big of an impact, then my initial questions still stand.

 

[TylertheDestroyer]

Genuine question, what kind of lifestyle changes make Civ 7 on S2 more attractive than PC? Every novelty feature for S2 tries to achieve UX parity with PC, but not surpass it. The only real net benefit is the ability to play on a larger TV monitor from the comfort of your living room, but even then the S2 Joy Cons are not a perfect replacement for PC mouse.

My question can be extended to other consoles as well. What benefits are there to the console versions that would make PC players want to switch to consoles - for a turn based strategy game, of all possible genres?

You make a great point but even in the aspect of playing from the comfort of a living room. Most PC gamers have the means to simply hook up their PCs to their TVs as well and could use either controller or mouse/keyboard on couch as they prefer. Only benefit consoles could provide is something like the Switch's ability to be played portable but even then you'd most likely get better preformance and experience in that regard from Steam Deck. The Switch 1 version is a shell of a Civ game.

I don't think there is a single shred of logic that supports turn based strategy game having a larger or even comprable audience on consoles than PC... which isn't to say that no one would buy the game on consoles but rather it's obvious where the series' main market is.

 

[queenpea]

I've just checked Nintendo store, both Zelda games have Switch 2 version, but so does Civ7 now. So, I'm not sure. I believe both sources you've mentioned use the same Nintendo best sellers page, just in some different time.

Anyway, it's totally possible Civ7 was counted and is not in top 15.

The Gamespot lists Tears of the Kingdom upgrade and TOTK Switch 2 Edition as separate games, so upgrade packs will appear on best seller lists.

 

[itix]

This feels like a critique of the metric not of the game. Like be realistic, do you actually think Civ7 is less popular than Revolution right now?

It is possible. In the Xbox store, only 300 players rated Civ 7, while Civ Rev has a rating from 1.1k players.

 

[Bug Repellent]

I don't think there is a single shred of logic that supports turn based strategy game having a larger or even comprable audience on consoles than PC... which isn't to say that no one would buy the game on consoles but rather it's obvious where the series' main market is.

I honestly don't think Civ is a game suitable for consoles, especially after one or two expansions that introduce new game mechanics that require crunching power. Well, unless Firaxis dumbs it down to make it suitable for consoles. And then there's workshop QoL mods that significantly improve the gaming experience. I cannot imagine playing my current Civ6 games on a console. That poor thing would likely catch fire or I'll have to shave between turns.

 

[bladex1200]

I don't see the purpose of discussing whether or not there's a silent majority of console players who enjoy civ 7 when we have seen Firaxis change their post-launch timeline to prioritize gameplay improvements and then give an acknowledgement that some of their key features did not land the way they hoped. The only time that a developer would do these things is if they have data saying that something's wrong - which suggests that the steam reviews are not an exception.

It does feel that such a PR release and redirection of priorities would be done to reassure not only purchaser but also investors (who do keep abreast of company news as well as general performance metrics) that Civ 7 is going to turn around its existing sales performance and generate the DLC sales expected of the franchise since Civ 6 made the season pass a thing.

 

[Nikolai II]

I honestly don't think Civ is a game suitable for consoles, especially after one or two expansions that introduce new game mechanics that require crunching power. Well, unless Firaxis dumbs it down to make it suitable for consoles. And then there's workshop QoL mods that significantly improve the gaming experience. I cannot imagine playing my current Civ6 games on a console. That poor thing would likely catch fire or I'll have to shave between turns.

The console best suited I guess is Switch 2, with the mouse support. Mouse in Civ is so so so important.

 

[socratic]

I wonder how much of the negative reception is based on the poor launch state and predatory DLC versus dislike of the core game design. If the backlash is mostly the latter, I don’t see this game having a very long lifespan. If it’s the former this game can definitely bounce back once the creases are ironed out and series staples like Aztec and Byzantium are eventually brought back. I’m not sure if there’s anyway to measure that but it could be worth looking into.

 

[Kwami]

I wonder how much of the negative reception is based on the poor launch state and predatory DLC versus dislike of the core game design. If the backlash is mostly the latter, I don’t see this game having a very long lifespan. If it’s the former this game can definitely bounce back once the creases are ironed out and series staples like Aztec and Byzantium are eventually brought back. I’m not sure if there’s anyway to measure that but it could be worth looking into.

I don't know if the Aztecs and Byzantium are the best examples, though! The Aztecs were a pre-order bonus that everyone else had to wait 90 days for and Byzantium wasn't added until NFP. Civ Vi seemed to do just fine without them, though.

I do think that a much expanded roster would help a lot. In previous games, you played only one civilization, so you could play a lot of games without repeating. In this game, you play three at a time, so you're going to start repeating much sooner.

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

I downloaded Civ VI via netflix over Christmas, I wonder if that counted as 1 of the 3 million units they mentioned. It's technically a sale as presumably netflix give them some kind of royalty fee for it?