Player stats, sales, and reception speculation thread

[Trav'ling Canuck]

Today is a banner day. UNC is playing this afternoon and we have a real football coach for once. I have been looking forward to it. Also, this is the month that Firaxis will be releasing the latter parts of the Civlets: Right to Rue expansion. Exciting times.

That aged poorly. Hope you're doing okay today, and that Firaxis doesn't disappoint you as much later this month and UNC did yesterday.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

So today is the first post labour day back to school / work day that's relatively common across at least the western world, and you can already see it in the overnight stats. Will be interesting to see how the numbers look over the next few weeks now there's more people with competing priorities again

Yup. New patch end of last week, DLC releases coming, people in the northern hemisphere back to their regular routines. The last couple of months were pretty meaningless, but the next six months will, I suspect, be very important to the long-term trajectory for Civ 7.

First and foremost, I'll be watching player reviews. I think these need to start trending upwards to secure a long development cycle. Sales numbers we'll never see directly, but if the game finds its audience, we should see that in improving reviews.

 

[AD1730]

Yup. New patch end of last week, DLC releases coming, people in the northern hemisphere back to their regular routines. The last couple of months were pretty meaningless, but the next six months will, I suspect, be very important to the long-term trajectory for Civ 7.

First and foremost, I'll be watching player reviews. I think these need to start trending upwards to secure a long development cycle. Sales numbers we'll never see directly, but if the game finds its audience, we should see that in improving reviews.

If the EU5 launch is good, it could spell a very bleak period for player numbers for Civ 7. I suspect that Firaxis has two months to show promise before many set the game down for an extended period.

 

[Siptah]

If the EU5 launch is good, it could spell a very bleak period for player numbers for Civ 7. I suspect that Firaxis has two months to show promise before many set the game down for an extended period.

As much as I love EU4, I think this is a big "if", and not just because of it being unclear how well optimized the game is. It's looking like it will be quite a steep learning curve to play that, even if you are a veteran of PDX games. But I would be surprised if the combined release (more or less) of EU5 and Anno 117 wouldn't make a dent into the civ player count (regardless of which civ).

 

[aieeegrunt]

If the EU5 launch is good, it could spell a very bleak period for player numbers for Civ 7. I suspect that Firaxis has two months to show promise before many set the game down for an extended period.

Is there a lot of crossover between those two player groups?

 

[Siptah]

Is there a lot of crossover between those two player groups?

According to Steam db gamalytic, more than 53% of the people that played EU4 also played civ VI (there's no number for the other way round because EU4 is not among the top 10 games played by civ players). But that number doesn't mean much, because it can be that people just tried the other game at some point, and EU4 for example was for free at some points in the past iirc. I would still say that there are a few 1000 players that likely play both franchises more or less regularly. They are very different games in a way though, and I can see why someone who is used to one of them would quickly bounce of the other.

 

[stealth_nsk]

According to Steam db gamalytic, more than 53% of the people that played EU4 also played civ VI (there's no number for the other way round because EU4 is not among the top 10 games played by civ players). But that number doesn't mean much, because it can be that people just tried the other game at some point, and EU4 for example was for free at some points in the past iirc. I would still say that there are a few 1000 players that likely play both franchises more or less regularly. They are very different games in a way though, and I can see why someone who is used to one of them would quickly bounce of the other.

Yeah, I'm probably one of them. Tried EU some time ago, don't remember which one, wasn't impressed and never came back.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

The Civ-series in general, and Civ 6 in particular, is very "big tent". You can see in the comments on this forum how often people assume that most people play Civ for the same reasons they play Civ, but in reality, I'm not sure any particular player-type makes up a significant % of the overall Civ audience, let alone a majority of the overall Civ audience. I've no doubt that there are lots of people who enjoy Civ and the Europa series both, but I expect the overlap would still be a small % of the overall Civ playerbase. Same thing for Old World, Sim City, Risk and Candy Crush.

 

[Siptah]

The Civ-series in general, and Civ 6 in particular, is very "big tent". You can see in the comments on this forum how often people assume that most people play Civ for the same reasons they play Civ, but in reality, I'm not sure any particular player-type makes up a significant % of the overall Civ audience, let alone a majority of the overall Civ audience. I've no doubt that there are lots of people who enjoy Civ and the Europa series both, but I expect the overlap would still be a small % of the overall Civ playerbase. Same thing for Old World, Sim City, Risk and Candy Crush.

The overlap in Candy Crush players might be substantial – at least viewed from the civ side, of course not from the Candy Crush side.

Not really useful, but on gamalytic, top 5 games that civ 6 players also played are:
CS2 (83%)
PUBG (67%)
Left 4 Dead 2 (63%)
Apex Legends (54%)
Witcher 3 (52%)

So, it looks like civ 6 is just among these games than anyone tried at some point...

 

[stealth_nsk]

The overlap in Candy Crush players might be substantial – at least viewed from the civ side, of course not from the Candy Crush side.

Not really useful, but on gamalytic, top 5 games that civ 6 players also played are:
CS2 (83%)
PUBG (67%)
Left 4 Dead 2 (63%)
Apex Legends (54%)
Witcher 3 (52%)

So, it looks like civ 6 is just among these games than anyone tried at some point...

I think those the game which are just played by the majority of players, so they intersect with everything. Haven't played any of those except for the Witcher 3, though.

 

[Siptah]

I think those the game which are just played by the majority of players, so they intersect with everything. Haven't played any of those except for the Witcher 3, though.

Yeah, me neither except for the Witcher. I've played a lot of the original CS beta though around 2000-2004.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

So, it looks like civ 6 is just among these games than anyone tried at some point...

I think that's exactly right.

Here in the fanatics section, we tend to think of Civ as a game played by people who love historical 4x games, but in reality, it's a game that people who love historical 4x games play, but its also played and enjoyed by people who aren't fans of historical 4x games.

 

[Krikkit1]

My exploration tends to be shorter than antiquity. I've found my games tend to be like 120:90:50, with standard length ages (usually at some point in exploration things start to snowball and a couple future techs/civics cut the age back).

That's because the Legacy Milestones are weighted differently in antiquity and Exploration
Antiquity (5-5-10) 20 total x4 = -80 turns... Total 120
Exploration (5-10-20) 35 Total x4=-140 turns... total 60
Modern (5-10-0)15 total turns x4=-60..... so Modern can go for 140 turns... but only if noone gets a Victory

(all of this is with no future Civic /Tech as well)

 

[Maiq]

That aged poorly. Hope you're doing okay today, and that Firaxis doesn't disappoint you as much later this month and UNC did yesterday.

It could be worse. Could have Arch as your QB

 

[aieeegrunt]

According to Steam db gamalytic, more than 53% of the people that played EU4 also played civ VI (there's no number for the other way round because EU4 is not among the top 10 games played by civ players). But that number doesn't mean much, because it can be that people just tried the other game at some point, and EU4 for example was for free at some points in the past iirc. I would still say that there are a few 1000 players that likely play both franchises more or less regularly. They are very different games in a way though, and I can see why someone who is used to one of them would quickly bounce of the other.

Yeah, I'm probably one of them. Tried EU some time ago, don't remember which one, wasn't impressed and never came back.

Generally I fine Paradox games far far too involved and fiddly for me.

 

[Crashdummy]

EU gameplay was never for me, didnt even try EU4 and wont try EU5. That being said, i am not playing Civ VII either

 

[aieeegrunt]

EU gameplay was never for me, didnt even try EU4 and wont try EU5. That being said, i am not playing Civ VII either

Ya it’s either Civ6 or Civ3 for me when I am in a 4X mood

 

[Lazy sweeper]

Civ 6 console versions often crash, and its Android version is pretty unstable and unsupported. I've heard it runs better on iPad though. But the primary platform is PC, not console.

consoles are expensive in every imaginable way. The old gen handheld were cheap and retained a very large userbase, and were unique. Double screen DS today you could not make civ 7 work on a DS like console. You should make a unique port. And today most console gamers don't feel it's worth owning one over just Steam Deck because there are no exclusive anymore as it used to be. It's a very big issue for all the game industry, and unfortunately Civ has fallen in the same trap... it should have been ONLY a PC game, and consoles get something unique.

But it's the strumentalization the problem. Console gamers have very different needs from PC players. Maybe local multiplay, 4 human friends in split screen mode. Today consoles are treated like PCs... and PCs like consoles... it's not a superficial comment as you seems to have intended. Studios used to have specialized ports divisions and now it doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Change a few DLL's and that's it.

 

[AD1730]

consoles are expensive in every imaginable way. The old gen handheld were cheap and retained a very large userbase, and were unique. Double screen DS today you could not make civ 7 work on a DS like console. You should make a unique port. And today most console gamers don't feel it's worth owning one over just Steam Deck because there are no exclusive anymore as it used to be. It's a very big issue for all the game industry, and unfortunately Civ has fallen in the same trap... it should have been ONLY a PC game, and consoles get something unique.

But it's the strumentalization the problem. Console gamers have very different needs from PC players. Maybe local multiplay, 4 human friends in split screen mode. Today consoles are treated like PCs... and PCs like consoles... it's not a superficial comment as you seems to have intended. Studios used to have specialized ports divisions and now it doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Change a few DLL's and that's it.

Split screen is hardly supported anymore. Local multiplayer is becoming a rarity outside of sports games.

 

[Kev1916]

Split screen is hardly supported anymore. Local multiplayer is becoming a rarity outside of sports games.

Sadly the old days off games with friends and family in one household are now a rarity.
Profits need maximise, don’t see many games with a hot seat mode either