Player stats, sales, and reception speculation thread

[AD1730]

I was under the impression that Firaxis employee bonuses are tied to how well their releases sell.

I'd be more concerned about whether they retain their jobs through the year, given how this game has performed. At this point, it should be clear that the only way this game makes a comeback is with a true 2.0 update. I see no reason to allow the leadership that directed this game to its current state to lead that process.

Of course, the other option is to pull the plug, shut down the studio, and distribute its titles to other Take Two studios.

 

[Mogontiacum]

A few more numbers from today(steamdb) at 3:35 pm cet: Ara History untold 133 players, Millenia 85 players, Old world 705 players, Humankind 724 players and Civ 7 8176 Players with increasing trend. I think civ 7 is not doing so badly compared to the competition, imo.

 

[Gorbles]

Would you hazard a guess as to what percentage of Firaxis staff is using AI in their work and do you think AI will be used in the continued development of Civ 7?

No idea, and hope not! Every time I've had to deal with it it keeps causing more problems than solutions for anything but the simplest of changes that you can get in a 5 second Google.

It's okay at generating regex I guess. But you still need to test the pattern, so.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Many big corporations already use AI for coding. With tools appeared this spring, it became really benefitial, especially for non-critical code.

AI in visual and sound assets still has questionable quality and some controvercy, but with Netflix adding AI to their pipeline, I expect it to become mainstream too soon.

So even if Firaxis doesn't use AI yet, they likely to be soon and there's nothing wrong with it.

 

[youngsteve]

A few more numbers from today(steamdb) at 3:35 pm cet: Ara History untold 133 players, Millenia 85 players, Old world 705 players, Humankind 724 players and Civ 7 8176 Players with increasing trend. I think civ 7 is not doing so badly compared to the competition, imo.

Very amusing. I would be more interested in their predecessors like Civ 5, which currently has 17,788 players on Steam, which has got them in at 96 in the charts. Not bad for a 15 year old game. Numbers which this current version can only dream about. In comparison Civ 7 is battling it out in 176 place, keeping ahead of Sultan's Game, & just behind American Truck Simulator.

 

[aieeegrunt]

A few more numbers from today(steamdb) at 3:35 pm cet: Ara History untold 133 players, Millenia 85 players, Old world 705 players, Humankind 724 players and Civ 7 8176 Players with increasing trend. I think civ 7 is not doing so badly compared to the competition, imo.

4X strategy is an incredibly niche market. There really isn’t room for more than a casual (Civilization) and a advanced (Paradox) franchise

The real comparison is and will remain between sales and playercounts is Civ7 and it’s predecessors 6 and 5, and it’s a debacle.

Given how badly Civ7 performed, and the absolutly glacial pace of AAA development there is definitly room for somehow to pull a Helldivers here.

Halo Infinite did a Fallout76 the way Civ7 did and essentially ditched the core playerbase when it ditched the core identity, and this left an ecological niche empty for Helldivers 2 to swoop in and claim.

No idea, and hope not! Every time I've had to deal with it it keeps causing more problems than solutions for anything but the simplest of changes that you can get in a 5 second Google.

It's okay at generating regex I guess. But you still need to test the pattern, so.

AI generated code is even more slop than AI generated art was prior to Google’s recent Veo3 thing. This is far far worse because art is subjective and sometimes the wonkiness of AI art horseshoes around to being epic, but code is functional.

Another factor is, and seemingly nobody wants to admit this, but it’s becoming very clear to me that AI often increasingly has it’s own agenda that may or may not be beneficial.

 

[Mogontiacum]

Very amusing. I would be more interested in their predecessors like Civ 5, which currently has 17,788 players on Steam, which has got them in at 96 in the charts. Not bad for a 15 year old game. Numbers which this current version can only dream about. In comparison Civ 7 is battling it out in 176 place, keeping ahead of Sultan's Game, & just behind American Truck Simulator.

Yes, not bad for a 15 years old game. I find comparisons with Civ 5/6 difficult at the moment because both are fully patched and all have dlc. Civ 5/6 had years to build a fan base. Civ 7 didn't. Let's see how it is in a year.

 

[aieeegrunt]

Yes, not bad for a 15 years old game. I find comparisons with Civ 5/6 difficult at the moment because both are fully patched and all have dlc. Civ 5/6 had years to build a fan base. Civ 7 didn't. Let's see how it is in a year.

Which way is it trending?

You can test your theory by comparing Civ6 launch sales, player count etc over the same time frame with Civ7.

Keeping in mind that Civ7 was standing on the shoulders of Civ6 when it launched.

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

A few more numbers from today(steamdb) at 3:35 pm cet: Ara History untold 133 players, Millenia 85 players, Old world 705 players, Humankind 724 players and Civ 7 8176 Players with increasing trend. I think civ 7 is not doing so badly compared to the competition, imo.

Civ 7 is trending down, not up I'm afraid.

 

[Mogontiacum]

Civ 7 is trending down, not up I'm afraid.

Trending up over the afternoon like every day. That' s what i mean.

Which way is it trending?

You can test your theory by comparing Civ6 launch sales, player count etc over the same time frame with Civ7.

Keeping in mind that Civ7 was standing on the shoulders of Civ6 when it launched.

The low point so far was mid-June. Since 1.2.2 it's been relatively stable- so we'll have to wait and see how it continues.

 

[stealth_nsk]

4X strategy is an incredibly niche market. There really isn’t room for more than a casual (Civilization) and a advanced (Paradox) franchise

I wouldn't call Paradox games 4X. From pure terminology perspective - only Stellaris has really exploration and expansion aspects. And from gameplay, they are much more simulators than strategies (historical simulators, mostly).

Civ 7 is trending down, not up I'm afraid.

Like any other game existing.

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

Trending up over the afternoon like every day. That' s what i mean.

The low point so far was mid-June. Since 1.2.2 it's been relatively stable- so we'll have to wait and see how it continues.

Since 1.2.2 it's dropped about 20% again, so thats not exactly stable, and this Friday I believe is the lowest player count Friday yet. We are potentially looking at the first sub 10,000 peak weekend too.

The numbers aren't drastic in absolute changes anymore because the numbers are already low

Which is unusual, because Civ games (and strategy games) usually level off rather than drop ever towards 0

 

[aieeegrunt]

Trending up over the afternoon like every day. That' s what i mean.

The low point so far was mid-June. Since 1.2.2 it's been relatively stable- so we'll have to wait and see how it continues.

Stable is not good, since the numbers are so anemic to start with. They need to be moving up a lot to save the situation.

I wouldn't call Paradox games 4X. From pure terminology perspective - only Stellaris has really exploration and expansion aspects. And from gameplay, they are much more simulators than strategies (historical simulators, mostly).


Like any other game existing.

I was stretching a bit, but that just reinforces the point that the market is that niche

So this is definitly a potenial Helldivers 2 opportunity

The second I saw that the character designs for Helldivers were Halo ODST with a cape I knew exactly what was gonna happen

 

[Gorbles]

Many big corporations already use AI for coding.

They do. This has very little correlation with how useful it is, imo, but that's a tangent (of a tangent) too far for me haha. I stand by what I said earlier - and I've tried generative tools, plus sat with other devs as they did the same.

(not an appeal to authority - just saying it's not a kneejerk reaction here)

 

[Mogontiacum]

Since 1.2.2 it's dropped about 20% again, so thats not exactly stable, and this Friday I believe is the lowest player count Friday yet. We are potentially looking at the first sub 10,000 peak weekend too.

The numbers aren't drastic in absolute changes anymore because the numbers are already low

Which is unusual, because Civ games (and strategy games) usually level off rather than drop ever towards 0

Friday June 13 7649, Friday June 20 7336, Friday July 18 7899. I said relatively stable... with fluctuations.

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

Friday June 13 7649, Friday June 20 7336, Friday July 18 7899. I said relatively stable... with fluctuations.

Fair play on the lower Fridays. I still wouldn't say stable - what you have in between is a player spike from the patch that has dropped off and still has levelled out. Numbers are still going down week by week, and they were still going down week by week before the pat h too, as the 2 June figures you picked show.

 

[Krikkit1]

Fair play on the lower Fridays. I still wouldn't say stable - what you have in between is a player spike from the patch that has dropped off and still has levelled out. Numbers are still going down week by week, and they were still going down week by week before the pat h too, as the 2 June figures you picked show.

Although that does show that
right before last patch <right before next patch

as long as patch bumps >drop off between patches then they might get it going…it will just be a slog until they get something that catches people.

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

Although that does show that
right before last patch <right before next patch

as long as patch bumps >drop off between patches then they might get it going…it will just be a slog until they get something that catches people.

Yeah the next patch release bump will be interesting to see. Maybe the age transition changes draw people back in. General feel seems to be this one is smaller than the last one, so maybe the bump will be a bit smaller?

 

[TylertheDestroyer]

A few more numbers from today(steamdb) at 3:35 pm cet: Ara History untold 133 players, Millenia 85 players, Old world 705 players, Humankind 724 players and Civ 7 8176 Players with increasing trend. I think civ 7 is not doing so badly compared to the competition, imo.

Comparing it to its genre competition is silly because 4X is a rather niche genre. Firaxis is a AAA devoloper and Civilization is a long established brand which cost a lot more to make and is much more heavily advertised than AA game like Old World, Ara, or Millenia. Humankind and Stellaris are probably the only two recent 4X titles where such a comparison would make sense and one flopped because it was terrible and the other is currently outperforming Civilization VII.

You shouldn't be comparing VII preformance to a AA title like Ara or Millenia but rather to its immediate predesseors V and VI, as those are surely the numbers 2K and Firaxis are more concerned about

 

[Kwami]

Yes, not bad for a 15 years old game. I find comparisons with Civ 5/6 difficult at the moment because both are fully patched and all have dlc. Civ 5/6 had years to build a fan base. Civ 7 didn't. Let's see how it is in a year.

Exactly this! And to add, V and VI have both been on big sales many times. VII is still selling at shiny, new AAA price (though it did have a minor -15% sale earlier this month). So, a lot of potential players are probably priced out, too. Let's see what happens when VII gets some good sales later this year.

I find the daily tracking... amusing, I suppose. Of course, player counts are going to go down after launch. People move on to other games. They come back for patches (as you all saw), and then they move on again until the next big patch or DLC. So what?

All of the doom and gloom about the studio shutting down is just weird.