Player stats, sales, and reception speculation thread

[IntelligentDisk]

Given the current ratings coming through are still on average sub 50% (and dropping if I understand right), I'm not sure I would agree with you. The general audience still seems to like it's unfinished and buggy and overpriced, and not sufficiently addressed.

Many, many of those initial reviews were about missing features which have since been added, no big maps which have since been added, lack of settings which have since been added, poor UI which has been improved and more which has actually been addressed.

Then there are positive reviews like this:

Steam Community :: evil_snafu :: Review for Sid Meier's Civilization VII

Hi All, First i am going to say i was disappointed with this game. It has the Civ VII name but didn't feel like the Civilization games I have played and enjoyed for decades. So if your a Civ fan be prepared for a different game. It took me ( i don't know) maybe 100 hours of play to get use to...

steamcommunity.com

"First i am going to say i was disappointed with this game." -

If there were no goodwill from the players, the ratings would be worse.

Then there are negative reviews like this:

Steam Community :: Hawkin :: Review for Sid Meier's Civilization VII

I don't think I've ever played or enjoyed a game this much without being able to give it the thumbs up. I've played the series since Civ II, and I can genuinely appreciate some of the changes or at least the attempts to innovate on display here. A lot of the controversial changes like the new...

steamcommunity.com

"I don't think I've ever played or enjoyed a game this much without being able to give it the thumbs up..."

Steam Community :: DesperateFun :: Review for Sid Meier's Civilization VII

Civ 7 is actually a decent game, but it has a couple of things that make it a big disappointment. For me, the complete lack of the option to have "one more turn" or even the option to add a no turn limit completely turns me off from the game. I personally enjoy playing Civ for map domination and...

steamcommunity.com

"Civ 7 is actually a decent game, but it has a couple of things that make it a big disappointment. For me, the complete lack of the option to have "one more turn"..."

Steam Community :: mrjonjonn :: Review for Sid Meier's Civilization VII

Love the new additions, and it is a very good game. Well made, but why remove being able to continue to play after someone claims victory. Especially in solo play. That harmless feature makes the game 100x better. It worked great in Civ 6. Maybe Im missing something? 6/10 game

steamcommunity.com

"Love the new additions, and it is a very good game. Well made, but why remove being able to continue to play after someone claims victory..."

Steam Community :: perozzi.n :: Review for Sid Meier's Civilization VII

I actually love the new changes. Very cool and fun game and the UI is literally fine. I have a group of 7 buddies who use civ to keep in touch. You can only play more than 5 people in a party if it starts in the modern age. I don't know what sort of spaghetti code they need to unravel to address...

steamcommunity.com

"I actually love the new changes. Very cool and fun game and the UI is literally fine. I have a group of 7 buddies who use civ to keep in touch. You can only play more than 5 people in a party if it starts in the modern age..."

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

Many, many of those initial reviews were about missing features which have since been added, no big maps which have since been added, lack of settings which have since been added, poor UI which has been improved and more which has actually been addressed.


Then there are negative reviews like this:

Steam Community :: Hawkin :: Review for Sid Meier's Civilization VII

I don't think I've ever played or enjoyed a game this much without being able to give it the thumbs up. I've played the series since Civ II, and I can genuinely appreciate some of the changes or at least the attempts to innovate on display here. A lot of the controversial changes like the new...

steamcommunity.com

"I don't think I've ever played or enjoyed a game this much without being able to give it the thumbs up..."

Steam Community :: DesperateFun :: Review for Sid Meier's Civilization VII

Civ 7 is actually a decent game, but it has a couple of things that make it a big disappointment. For me, the complete lack of the option to have "one more turn" or even the option to add a no turn limit completely turns me off from the game. I personally enjoy playing Civ for map domination and...

steamcommunity.com

"Civ 7 is actually a decent game, but it has a couple of things that make it a big disappointment. For me, the complete lack of the option to have "one more turn"..."

Steam Community :: mrjonjonn :: Review for Sid Meier's Civilization VII

Love the new additions, and it is a very good game. Well made, but why remove being able to continue to play after someone claims victory. Especially in solo play. That harmless feature makes the game 100x better. It worked great in Civ 6. Maybe Im missing something? 6/10 game

steamcommunity.com

"Love the new additions, and it is a very good game. Well made, but why remove being able to continue to play after someone claims victory..."

Steam Community :: perozzi.n :: Review for Sid Meier's Civilization VII

I actually love the new changes. Very cool and fun game and the UI is literally fine. I have a group of 7 buddies who use civ to keep in touch. You can only play more than 5 people in a party if it starts in the modern age. I don't know what sort of spaghetti code they need to unravel to address...

steamcommunity.com

"I actually love the new changes. Very cool and fun game and the UI is literally fine. I have a group of 7 buddies who use civ to keep in touch. You can only play more than 5 people in a party if it starts in the modern age..."

If the added feature like bigger maps were enough to change the average review, why wouldn't we be seeing that in reviews now?

Do you think there is something fundamentally different about the audiences that purchased on release Vs now that would have release audiences be more forgiving of the game as it is now, than people genuinely fresh to it now? TLDR: How do you explain that reviews are still below 50% with these features and on what evidence are you basing the idea that initial reviews would be better if the current version was the launch version? It feels like cope given the evidence we have available

 

[IntelligentDisk]

If the added feature like bigger maps were enough to change the average review, why wouldn't we be seeing that in reviews now?

Do you think there is something fundamentally different about the audiences that purchased on release Vs now that would have release audiences be more forgiving of the game as it is now, than people genuinely fresh to it now? TLDR: How do you explain that reviews are still below 50% with these features and on what evidence are you basing the idea that initial reviews would be better if the current version was the launch version? It feels like cope given the evidence we have available

They're different people, different reviewers. It seems logical that if the main complaints in each of these negative reviews had been "solved" or improved when the game originally launched, then these negative reviews wouldn't exist.

 

[Disgustipated]

Honestly the game is unfixable at this point. The core game design is what's wrong. That's not to say people can't have fun with it. I had a few hundred hours of fun, but I'm burned out at this point. It gets repetitive. I think most major development is finished, maybe one more average size dlc that's probably mostly finished at this point (at least the art and writing), and that's it for this game. And honestly, that's what's best. You learn from mistakes and do better next time (hopefully a next time).

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

They're different people, different reviewers. It seems logical that if the main complaints in each of these negative reviews had been "solved" or improved when the game originally launched, then these negative reviews wouldn't exist.

Logically what the evidence we have shows is that those reviewers who mentioned things like lack of big maps also would have other problems with the game that they didn't mention. Otherwise we would see reviews ticking up right now.

Every person is different, but there's no reason why all the people who care about map sizes would've bought on launch, and suddenly noone who cares about them is buying anymore. Unless there's a reason why the type of reviewer that buys now versus on launch differs on average, then individual difference at the people level are irrelevant., because everyone who bought at launch were different people, different reviewers too.

You aren't confronting the reality of the data. There may be a way of explaining it, but you aren't doing that.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Has anyone tried to quantify how many negative reviews are due to Civ-switching and/or the Ages system? Wasn't the first week or two (which is over half of the Steam reviews) full of complaints about the UI and unfinished state of the game?

In spring someone did the research. Civ switching itself wasn't mentioned in significant amount. Regarding ages, the most complains were about how abrupt the switch is. I could try to do the same with more recent reviews, i.e. starting from the beginning of July. But I need some more time to so so.

 

[Civinator]

Civ4 remastered

A Civ IV Definitive Edition (like the AOE series) would be something I would buy at once. Replacing the in my eyes worst graphics of the complete civ series (Civ 1 could not do better at its time) by, per example, Civ 7 graphics and to have a button to disable the unit upgrading trees in the epic game and the giant unit graphics over cities (as it is in Civ 3), if wanted, would be a very interesting option.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Ok, I made the analysis of reviews in the last 45 days, it's not perfect, but I have free account on ChatGPT and analytics is limited.

Civilization switching as immersion breaker was mentioned by ≈15 people out of 1940, but overall issues with age transition are still high (≈220).

Also, ChatGPT specifically mentions that new players in general perceive the game better than old ones, based on review text.

 

[Siptah]

re: remake of a classic game as a second line. Ubisoft tried this for the settlers, which is also a long running series that saw considerable change over the decades (even much more so than civ imho). Settlers 2 is widely regarded as the timeless classic, while Settlers 4 is seen as the series' peak by many. In parallel to games that moved the series forward (for better or worse), Ubisoft launched Settler's 2 Next Generation to give something to fans of the classic games. It was a success iirc, but also criticized (the campaign was not exactly the same, it had some QoL improvements, but not many, Vikings required a DLC, etc.). Yet, its successor (a classic settlers with Scots, Bavarians, and Egyptians) was not even published in English, so apparently the market outside of Germany was saturated with the remake and originals, or the remake didn't really sell on the international market.

I'm sure that a civ IV remake with graphical and QoL improvements would sell reasonably well. But I'm not sure whether it would actually hold as many players as 5 and 6, and even 7 for a long time. Some hardcore fans will stick with the original for various reasons, others will complain that the modernization isn't sufficient, and players that started with newer version might miss some mechanics. Hence, whether it would make sense to invest in a "classic civ" with a modern DLC model to ensure a long-term development (as is done for AoE) is unclear.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Games like Civilization have really long lifespan. Things like graphics or improved controls are not as important there as for some other genres. So any remake would have to compete with the original game, which old fans already own. And it will compete with newer games for new players.

Doesn't look like it makes sense from the commercial perspective.

 

[Civinator]

Games like Civilization have really long lifespan. Things like graphics or improved controls are not as important there as for some other genres. So any remake would have to compete with the original game, which old fans already own. And it will compete with newer games for new players.

Doesn't look like it makes sense from the commercial perspective.

This all can be said about the AOE Definitive Editions, too - and I have never heard, that they didn´t make sense from commercial perspective. Civ IV Definitive Edition compared to the AOE Definitive editions has the additional advantage, that some parts of the current Civ 7 (graphics) could be used for it.

 

[stealth_nsk]

This all can be said about the AOE Definitive Editions, too - and I have never heard, that they didn´t make sense from commercial perspective. Civ IV Definitive Edition compared to the AOE Definitive editions has the additional advantage, that some parts of the current Civ 7 (graphics) could be used for it.

Not exactly. For example, RTS games evolved controls over the time for things like unit grouping and for modern players playing older games is a pain. So, even just adjusting UI for modern standards improves old RTS games a lot. That's why I believe RTS is a pretty common genre for remakes (if I remember correctly, Starcraft has 2), unlike turn-based 4X games.

 

[Xur]

They're different people, different reviewers. It seems logical that if the main complaints in each of these negative reviews had been "solved" or improved when the game originally launched, then these negative reviews wouldn't exist.

They could change their reviews though? I got negative reviews that mention things that got fixed in other games, but my overall review/opinion has not changed. You can look at "recent reviews" if you have trouble understanding steam reviews. Recent reviews have all those fixes you mention. Recent reviews are trending down though.

If you filter for the last 30 days, then you get a lot of negative reviews with playtime of over 100 hours. People talk about the love of the franchise and the huge disappointment that is civ7. Firaxis is polishing a turd right now. They removed some of the nuts and polished it, but it's still a turd.

 

[Siptah]

Talks about remakes also make me wonder: how is freeciv these days? I haven’t played it or followed the development in probably 10 years.

 

[GeneralZift]

Not exactly. For example, RTS games evolved controls over the time for things like unit grouping and for modern players playing older games is a pain. So, even just adjusting UI for modern standards improves old RTS games a lot. That's why I believe RTS is a pretty common genre for remakes (if I remember correctly, Starcraft has 2), unlike turn-based 4X games.

Dude, the older Civ games are a pain to play too. Civ5 desyncs all the time. Civ4 is a pain just to look at. The UI could use improvements to this day on all 7 games. The multiplayer could use improvements. The AI could use improvements.
Civ games are the far from perfect, which makes them ideal territory for Remakes / Remasters.

And why wouldn't old players be interested in these improvements? I bet at least a couple thousands old school Civ4 gamers who have been vanished for 20 years will perk up at the sight of a new and improved Civ4 with which to spend their money.

Age of Empires really is the poster child for this, because even though that game is damn near perfect, the remaster still has crazy traction. Now imagine what it would do for Civ's poorly aged unoptimised older titles.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Talks about remakes also make me wonder: how is freeciv these days? I haven’t played it or followed the development in probably 10 years.

There are several open source remakes, up to Civ5. They aren't very popular.

But it's important that they aren't upgrade in graphics, they are downgrade, so it's hard to find the reason to play them if you own the original.

 

[Krikkit1]

Dude, the older Civ games are a pain to play too. Civ5 desyncs all the time. Civ4 is a pain just to look at. The UI could use improvements to this day on all 7 games. The multiplayer could use improvements. The AI could use improvements.
Civ games are the far from perfect, which makes them ideal territory for Remakes / Remasters.

And why wouldn't old players be interested in these improvements? I bet at least a couple thousands old school Civ4 gamers who have been vanished for 20 years will perk up at the sight of a new and improved Civ4 with which to spend their money.

Age of Empires really is the poster child for this, because even though that game is damn near perfect, the remaster still has crazy traction. Now imagine what it would do for Civ's poorly aged unoptimised older titles.

UI is something that has always been poor with civ games, massive amounts of hidden information. All of them could use a UI remaster.

 

[Siptah]

There are several open source remakes, up to Civ5. They aren't very popular.

But it's important that they aren't upgrade in graphics, they are downgrade, so it's hard to find the reason to play them if you own the original.

Freeciv has MP with over 100 players and is platform independent. That‘s quite an improvement from civ 2 it seeks to replace.

Also, it is the only civ-like game that takes the idea of having a civ stand the test of time seriously by having a San Marino civ. It’s an unofficial remake, but the only true civ game.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Freeciv has MP with over 100 players and is platform independent. That‘s quite an improvement from civ 2 it seeks to replace.

Also, it is the only civ-like game that takes the idea of having a civ stand the test of time seriously by having a San Marino civ. It’s an unofficial remake, but the only true civ game.

I've just checked, Unciv has 1M+ downloads on Google Play alone. I guess they have their popularity, at least on non-PC platforms.

P.S. It would be great to see browser-based civ clone, btw.

 

[Siptah]

I've just checked, Unciv has 1M+ downloads on Google Play alone. I guess they have their popularity, at least on non-PC platforms.

P.S. It would be great to see browser-based civ clone, btw.

Freeciv has a browser-based version.