The hate for Civ7 will end the series, if not soon then eventually

[tman2000]

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Most important comment I left to the end: this social media environment we now live in massively AMPLIFIES the negative voices. Unhappy people are very loud but again not surprising because big success always attracts lovers AND haters. Not different at all from all other aspects of 2025 life. Don't read too much into it.

Blaming doom posting for a botched launch and terribly incomplete game that’s poorly realized and then excusing it because finished games on release only happened in the 90s is the worst take in this thread IMO

I don’t think or accept that this launch is par for the course. It overshadows discussion over particular game mechanics

 

[Gori the Grey]

I would put my $ bet on its survival vs death

Civ will stand the test of your time.

 

[Kev1916]

in every new release there exists bugs, balance issues, bad AI etc but then gets better in a few months / years. This has always been the case

Don’t think this should be the case and yea it’s not the “90’s”.
And what gets on my nerves is why people seem to expect that “modern “civ”
games are always undercooked ?
For 130 dollars seems to me an up front cash grab.
Why not perhaps release game in early excess forgo the upfront DLC con and build the game up with community support.

 

[Askia Muhammad]

Hopefully the executives realize that it wasn't innovation that killed the game, but bad management and a botched dev cycle. Ed Beach saying, "Gosh golly we just were too ambitious and leaned too hard into change so we just won't do that next time" as a way to keep his job (and insert whoever's at fault, it's not necessarily Beach). I mean that's just avoiding the issue that they released an unfinished, half-baked, improperly conceived game.

There are ways civ switching, leaders and crisis might have worked that would have been a lot more fun.

I actually agree with this. I’m really not a fan of ages though in their current concept. I don’t want any resets what so ever. That’s antithetical to core tenants of the 4x genre.

I think Civ switching and crisis can be a ton of fun and done an immmersive and fun manner. For one, I think the crisis that occurs should at least somewhat reflect what’s going on in the game.

I’m not against each era of the game having different mechanics but an actual loading screen between them, hiding half the map, resetting cities, relationships, units etc is just not good

 

[Niallism]

I'm happy with Civ 7 - not happy with Firaxis's botched and premature launch, but with the core game.

I don't know what they could have done to change from Civ 6. I have no interest in a series that doesn't innovate and change. And yes, I've been playing since the original Civ.

If this 'kills' the series, then so be it. I am glad 7 is not a prettier 6, leading to Civ XIV being an even prettier version of the last V games.

 

[sixty4half]

Everything we think we know about games like Civ will be wiped out in three or four years when the new wave of games that will capitalize on AI advances arrive. Game worlds are going to be bigger and much more complex. We are going to spend a lot more time and more money and have more fun than ever.

I'm not sure any of that is true except AI made games. If we go by AI made art, it will not be nearly as cool as you have described.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Everything we think we know about games like Civ will be wiped out in three or four years when the new wave of games that will capitalize on AI advances arrive. Game worlds are going to be bigger and much more complex. We are going to spend a lot more time and more money and have more fun than ever.

Not neccessary. particulary with AI replaces manual labor.
AI generated media feels like trash now. see? while it is possible to make a manga based on a specific mangaka styles (or Animes, such as what ChatGPT can generate Studio Ghibli arts for any characters). it doesn't always turn out 'What it SHOULD' be if it is really made manually with that style.

 

[tman2000]

I'm not sure any of that is true except AI made games. If we go by AI made art, it will not be nearly as cool as you have described.

What they need to do is get AI to create the algorithms that drive the engine. Imagine playing realistic graphics GTA and then everything goes cartoony like the box art and title cards during intense moments. Rather than have AI draw cartoon versions of the imagery, have AI sort out the algorithm that converts the art, then plug that into the engine.

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

AI will generate quality art assets better and quicker than your average game artist within the next decade.

AI will generate quality code assets better and quicker than your average dev within the next decade.

The jobs of the future in the gaming industry will be about instructing AI to do things in such a way that maximises the quality and pace of it's outputs. A game like Civ VII conceptually could be built at a much faster pace and therefore at much lower cost in the future because of AI. That's not to say people don't play a role in development, it's just that their toolset changes. And generally speaking AI does the 80% so you can hone the 20% as a best practice use.

Creativity in approach is still bound by the human involved, but it'll be made quicker by the use of AI basically. There's no reason, beyond skill of the person directing the AI, that AI can't be involved in creation of art or code as good or better than what is currently produced.

 

[tman2000]

AI will generate quality art assets better and quicker than your average game artist within the next decade.

AI will generate quality code assets better and quicker than your average dev within the next decade.

The jobs of the future in the gaming industry will be about instructing AI to do things in such a way that maximises the quality and pace of it's outputs. A game like Civ VII conceptually could be built at a much faster pace and therefore at much lower cost in the future because of AI. That's not to say people don't play a role in development, it's just that their toolset changes. And generally speaking AI does the 80% so you can hone the 20% as a best practice use.

Creativity in approach is still bound by the human involved, but it'll be made quicker by the use of AI basically. There's no reason, beyond skill of the person directing the AI, that AI can't be involved in creation of art or code as good or better than what is currently produced.

This just means they’ll charge more for less and have minimal human labor costs and minimal effort.

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

This just means they’ll charge more for less and have minimal human labor costs and minimal effort.

But the barriers to entry will be lower, which means more and higher quality indie game break outs. If studios do as you say, their market share will continue to decrease.

 

[itix]

What they need to do is get AI to create the algorithms that drive the engine. Imagine playing realistic graphics GTA and then everything goes cartoony like the box art and title cards during intense moments. Rather than have AI draw cartoon versions of the imagery, have AI sort out the algorithm that converts the art, then plug that into the engine.

AI coding is like outsourcing code writing to a random bloke on the Internet. You never know what you get and very often you get only garbage.

 

[sixty4half]

AI will generate quality art assets better and quicker than your average game artist within the next decade.

AI will generate quality code assets better and quicker than your average dev within the next decade.

You have a lot of faith in a system that, as far as I can tell, is just a fancy version of an internet search engine.

I'd rather stick to playing games made by humans. I will probably go out of way not to support AI generated games.

 

[tman2000]

But the barriers to entry will be lower, which means more and higher quality indie game break outs. If studios do as you say, their market share will continue to decrease.

That’s a good point. Indies could save the industry.

 

[tman2000]

AI coding is like outsourcing code writing to a random bloke on the Internet. You never know what you get and very often you get only garbage.

Yeah that’s what I think AAA will do with AI, use it as an excuse to put even less money and effort into games and blame the tech.

 

[aelf]

AI should be great at regurgitating tried-and-tested formulae. If you want games that capture the experience of playing an older game that you really loved for a low price, it would probably be a boon.

 

[Askia Muhammad]

I'm happy with Civ 7 - not happy with Firaxis's botched and premature launch, but with the core game.

I don't know what they could have done to change from Civ 6. I have no interest in a series that doesn't innovate and change. And yes, I've been playing since the original Civ.

If this 'kills' the series, then so be it. I am glad 7 is not a prettier 6, leading to Civ XIV being an even prettier version of the last V games.

Yeah that’s what I think AAA will do with AI, use it as an excuse to put even less money and effort into games and blame the tech.

This just isn’t true - AI was originally developed specifically to replace coders - it’s actually extremely efficient when it comes to coding, Yes, it’s not perfect and corrections have to be made but a good company can keep significantly fewer actual coders on staff and achieve the same or better results

 

[King of Prussia]

AI has and will only grow in use when it comes to making video games. You will be hard pressed in the coming years in finding any new games made without it.

This just isn’t true - AI was originally developed specifically to replace coders - it’s actually extremely efficient when it comes to coding, Yes, it’s not perfect and corrections have to be made but a good company can keep significantly fewer actual coders on staff and achieve the same or better results

From what i seen for the few tests ive seen tried, its only good for basic stuff, and even then it needs both fixing and optimizing. We will see where it is in a few years from now. Perhaps having people who "speak AI" will be more important down the road. Able to correctly instruct the AI in what you want and fixing it quickly.

But the barriers to entry will be lower, which means more and higher quality indie game break outs. If studios do as you say, their market share will continue to decrease.

One of the biggest hurdles for any indy game or otherwise small studio is marketing/PR. If people do not know you exist, then they will not play your game. As of right now, that costs a lot of money. There are more games being released every year, which means they have to somehow break the noise to stand out. The marketing budget for a lot of these big games makes up a large if not the largest chuck of the pie when it comes to spending.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

One of the biggest hurdles for any indy game or otherwise small studio is marketing/PR. If people do not know you exist, then they will not play your game. As of right now, that costs a lot of money. There are more games being released every year, which means they have to somehow break the noise to stand out. The marketing budget for a lot of these big games makes up a large if not the largest chuck of the pie when it comes to spending.

Many, Many decades ago, Fritz Leiber, one of the Grand Masters of Science Fiction and Fantasy, wrote a short story the title of which I cannot remember now in which he hypothesized the growth of Information in the world to the point where nobody could keep up with it all (this was long before the Internet or World Wide Web, but it was already foreseeable in the late 1950s and early 1960s). So, he also hypothesized that the most important people in this future would be people who could synthesize and summarize information and make it available in palatable form to everyone else.

We are already seeing this with the proliferation of Influencers and other elements of the internet that exist for the sole purpose of steering us towards given bits of information or data - or potential sales. I am certain this will continue to grow, and specifically in the Game Industry, as there already are, there will be more sites where people can get information on new, independent or simply overlooked new games. On the one hand there will still be the problem of getting your game noticed by the site management, however many or few people that is, on the other hand the 'break in' costs are likely to be quite a bit less than the current requirement of making videos, releases, and 'managing' a 4 - 6 month lead in to release as we saw in Civ VII (and Ara, and every other current and recent A-List game).

We live in an era of constant and accelerating change in everything. Never forget that changes in game design caused by AI or any other new technology will be matched or influenced by changes in the methods and technologies for marketing, advertising, delivering, and playing games.

 

[Taefin]

I wonder if AI could figure out the .dll bugs that stop AI from using aircraft and commanders.