Will there actually be a Civ 7?

[Miserable Old Git]

I'm starting to feel it's overdue. Looking at the release dates for previous versions (1991, 1996, 2001, 2005, 2010, 2016) we get a frequency close to 5 years per edition (I don't know exact average, as I don't know the release months).

We're now into 6 years since Civ VI, and as far as I'm aware there have been no official pre-release announcements. If I remember correctly, the first announcements generally come about 6 months before release. This implies nothing before November 2022 at the earliest.

I realise Covid may have set back development schedules, but I'm still concerned. Is it possible that Civ Vi is the last version?

 

[Bibor]

Of course there will be. Very few brands become so toxic that it's best to ditch (Sim City and Atari come to mind). Even Fallout is somehow managing to stay alive. Most brands get knocked off shelves due to legal issues (like Alpha Centauri).

 

[Pistol90]

There will be for sure ... my concern is what is currently in development ... is it Civ7 (lets hope) or some spin-off (fantasy or sci-fi bu****it).

Also, we must take into calculation that today games take much longer to develop than 10-20 years ago (look at Elder Scrolls, GTA and other)

 

[Linklite]

There is about 5-6 years between iterations. We're at year 6 now, so we're not even overdue yet.

Also, it's important to note that usually the final release of content for a previous iteration (which is more likely to be an indicator of timing) is usually 2-3 years before the next iteration. Since NFP came out in 2020, but finished in 2021, this would indicate a release for VII in 2023 or 2024.

In other words, relax. We have time to kill before we'd even expect it to be released, let alone be stressing that it hasn't come yet. If we haven't heard anything by the end of next year, then we can start stressing.

 

[steveg700]

Those historical patterns being referred to are not terribly meaningful. Nothing "implies" November 2022. We're not going to see a new Civ for the sake of preserving symmetry.

The gaming industry is facing a slump, and we have lots of global economic issues to contend with. Those are the realistic considerations here.

 

[Leyrann]

Also, we must take into calculation that today games take much longer to develop than 10-20 years ago (look at Elder Scrolls, GTA and other)

Those two games are poor examples, in my opinion, as they are both known for constant rereleases simply to milk money.

Having said that, there are multiple reasons why the break between Civ VI and Civ VII could be longer than between previous editions. As you mentioned, games do indeed take longer to make than they once did and as OP mentioned covid likely slowed things down. In addition to that, Civ VI has had a longer support cycle (2 expansions, six DLCs, New Frontier Pass) than Civ IV (2 expansions) or Civ V (2 expansions and a few DLCs), which likely delayed Firaxis starting work on Civ VII, and if I'm not mistaken Firaxis also released another, unrelated game last year or something.

And that's ignoring that if Civ VII were to be announced tomorrow, which from our perspective is just as likely as it being announced any other day this year or the next or even the one after (assuming no promotional material beforehand), it would still be in time for a release that would create an equal gap as the one between Civ V and Civ VI.

If you want to know when I'd get worried about whether Civ VII will actually happen, which is the core consideration of this thread? If there's no announcement by the start of 2024, I'd say. But unless Firaxis as a company goes out of business, I do not see any reason why the Civilization series would be abandoned, as it is their flagship title and may indeed be the most popular turn-based strategy series in the world. They will continue to work either on new content for existing games, spin-off games with similar gameplay that can be marketed to the existing audience of the game, or new games in the main series.

Personally, my money is on Civ VII right now. If they were working on new content for CIv VI, we'd have heard something; I believe the latest content/patch was something like a year ago, and that's too long of a radio silence for a game in active development. And if they were working on a spin-off that isn't yet far enough along to be announced, that would imply they aren't yet working on Civ VII, a game that'll likely be in development for at least two or three years before it's release, which would make the gaps between releases in the main series longer than I think Firaxis (or, for that matter, 2k) is willing to accept.

(god I'm so bad at writing brief posts...)

 

[aieeegrunt]

Those two games are poor examples, in my opinion, as they are both known for constant rereleases simply to milk money.

Having said that, there are multiple reasons why the break between Civ VI and Civ VII could be longer than between previous editions. As you mentioned, games do indeed take longer to make than they once did and as OP mentioned covid likely slowed things down. In addition to that, Civ VI has had a longer support cycle (2 expansions, six DLCs, New Frontier Pass) than Civ IV (2 expansions) or Civ V (2 expansions and a few DLCs), which likely delayed Firaxis starting work on Civ VII, and if I'm not mistaken Firaxis also released another, unrelated game last year or something.

And that's ignoring that if Civ VII were to be announced tomorrow, which from our perspective is just as likely as it being announced any other day this year or the next or even the one after (assuming no promotional material beforehand), it would still be in time for a release that would create an equal gap as the one between Civ V and Civ VI.

If you want to know when I'd get worried about whether Civ VII will actually happen, which is the core consideration of this thread? If there's no announcement by the start of 2024, I'd say. But unless Firaxis as a company goes out of business, I do not see any reason why the Civilization series would be abandoned, as it is their flagship title and may indeed be the most popular turn-based strategy series in the world. They will continue to work either on new content for existing games, spin-off games with similar gameplay that can be marketed to the existing audience of the game, or new games in the main series.

Personally, my money is on Civ VII right now. If they were working on new content for CIv VI, we'd have heard something; I believe the latest content/patch was something like a year ago, and that's too long of a radio silence for a game in active development. And if they were working on a spin-off that isn't yet far enough along to be announced, that would imply they aren't yet working on Civ VII, a game that'll likely be in development for at least two or three years before it's release, which would make the gaps between releases in the main series longer than I think Firaxis (or, for that matter, 2k) is willing to accept.

(god I'm so bad at writing brief posts...)

Civ6 made a lot of money didn’t it? That is usually the best indicator of whether you get a sequel

 

[Leyrann]

Civ6 made a lot of money didn’t it? That is usually the best indicator of whether you get a sequel

Yup, though even if Civ VI would've been a commercial failure I think a sequel would still be very likely. As I pointed out, the series is a major player in the (strategy) game industry, and you wouldn't abandon it just because it performed badly for one iteration of the series.

 

[Linklite]

Civ6 made a lot of money didn’t it? That is usually the best indicator of whether you get a sequel

Right, which is why I'm a little confused by these posts (which started during NFP, and I don't have any reason to believe by the OP of this thread, I'm just talking about the type of post questioning if Civ VII will ever come). Civ is very popular (for a 4X game, at least) and punches far above its class of game in terms of popularity, is commercially very successful, and there's no real reason to abandon it. So why is anyone even thinking that it will be dropped? The only time a successful game like this would be dropped is if it were one of the first three in series. We're already on 6 so it's not going to. Unless someone was embezzling all of Firaxis' money or something, we will see Civ 7.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

Also, there was this article (sadly don't remember where it was posted) where they got few of the Civ 6's designers/developers (might've been Kotaku), one of the things Ed Beach (if Ir ecall) has said was "them looking at how Civ 6 had an abundance of abilities and moving forward they are looking to change it)

The article basically soft-announced that Civ 7 is at the very least being developed.

I also doubt that CIv 7 isn't being made given that it's basically the corner stone of Firaxis.

The flopping of Beyond Earth also probably discouraged them from developing a spin-off, and quite frankly, NFP could easily be considered as a somewhat replacement for that gap in the timing. No one really anticipated NFP, since the previous 3 games have all had 2 expansion packs.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

The release dates for the First Release (Windows) of the various games in the primary Civ series were:

Sid Meier's Civilization - September 1991
Civilization II - February 1996 (53 months later)
Civilization III - October 2001 (56 months later)
Civilization IV - October 2005 (48 months later)
Civilization V - September 2010 (59 months later)
Civilization VI - October 2016 (73 months later)
Present day (approximately 66 months later)

In other words, we are now "in the window" of the average Time Between Release for a new Civilization game, but between V and VI there was a measurable increase in that timing which may make the average of all the games an unreliable indicator.

I would be Stunned and Appalled if Civ VII has not been in development for at least a year or two already, and I would not be surprised to see a release date even as close as September - October of this year - which would be 71 - 72 months since VI was released. Given the release dates of previous Civilization games, it is also possible that we will wait until September/October 2023 (83 - 84 months since Civ VI), but I think that is too long to leave the gaming community hanging without any major 'update' or DLC for the Civ series (18 - 20 months since the last of NFP in March 2021). IF they have the resources and COVID, war, famine, plagues of gaming locusts, etc don't intervene I expect a Civ VII this year.

 

[Leyrann]

The release dates for the First Release (Windows) of the various games in the primary Civ series were:

Sid Meier's Civilization - September 1991
Civilization II - February 1996 (65 months later)
Civilization III - October 2001 (56 months later)
Civilization IV - October 2005 (48 months later)
Civilization V - September 2010 (59 months later)
Civilization VI - October 2016 (73 months later)
Present day (approximately 66 months later)

In other words, we are now "in the window" of the average Time Between Release for a new Civilization game, but between V and VI there was a measurable increase in that timing which may make the average of all the games an unreliable indicator.

I would be Stunned and Appalled if Civ VII has not been in development for at least a year or two already, and I would not be surprised to see a release date even as close as September - October of this year - which would be 71 - 72 months since VI was released. Given the release dates of previous Civilization games, it is also possible that we will wait until September/October 2023 (83 - 84 months since Civ VI), but I think that is too long to leave the gaming community hanging without any major 'update' or DLC for the Civ series (18 - 20 months since the last of NFP in March 2021). IF they have the resources and COVID, war, famine, plagues of gaming locusts, etc don't intervene I expect a Civ VII this year.

Between 1 and 2 was 53 months, not 65.

 

[aieeegrunt]

I like a lot of the basic concepts in Civ6, some of the implementation I found severely lacking, so if Civ7 is a more polished, refined and balanced Civ6 I’d be ok with that

 

[pokiehl]

I like a lot of the basic concepts in Civ6, some of the implementation I found severely lacking, so if Civ7 is a more polished, refined and balanced Civ6 I’d be ok with that

So uh...if you find Civ 7 to be better than Civ 6, you'd be ok with that?

Good to hear I guess

 

[CoconutTank]

tbh I wouldn't mind seeing Beyond Earth 2 before 7.

 

[reddishrecue]

The release dates for the First Release (Windows) of the various games in the primary Civ series were:

Sid Meier's Civilization - September 1991
Civilization II - February 1996 (65 months later)
Civilization III - October 2001 (56 months later)
Civilization IV - October 2005 (48 months later)
Civilization V - September 2010 (59 months later)
Civilization VI - October 2016 (73 months later)
Present day (approximately 66 months later)

In other words, we are now "in the window" of the average Time Between Release for a new Civilization game, but between V and VI there was a measurable increase in that timing which may make the average of all the games an unreliable indicator.

I would be Stunned and Appalled if Civ VII has not been in development for at least a year or two already, and I would not be surprised to see a release date even as close as September - October of this year - which would be 71 - 72 months since VI was released. Given the release dates of previous Civilization games, it is also possible that we will wait until September/October 2023 (83 - 84 months since Civ VI), but I think that is too long to leave the gaming community hanging without any major 'update' or DLC for the Civ series (18 - 20 months since the last of NFP in March 2021). IF they have the resources and COVID, war, famine, plagues of gaming locusts, etc don't intervene I expect a Civ VII this year.

This kept my hopes up for civ 7. Another factor that comes into play is the COVID because that really hindered the development of a lot of entities and the development of civ 7 could possible be one of those entities, unfortunately. Its possible that they can release earlier too but I know how it is with COVID. A lot of things did get destroyed or slowed.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

It's only been about year since they stopped developing anything new for Civ 6. Honestly, I expect that the years between editions may be longer especially as the games grow and we get multiple cycles of DLC, expansions, and updates.

 

[_hero_]

VI effectively had a 3rd expansion with the New Frontier pass, so it stands to reason that the timeline will look different than the games that had 2 expansions. A better way to look at it would date of the last content release vs date of the next game.

Civ IV Beyond the Sword came out in June 2007. Their Colonization spin-off came out in Sept. 2008. Civ 5 came out Sept 2010, so 2 years from their last release and over 3 years after their last main game update.

Civ V: Brave New World came out July 2013. Beyond Earth came out Dec 2014. Civ VI came out Oct 2016. 3 years and 3 months after the last main game content and 22 months after Beyond Earth.

The last part of the New Frontier pass was March 2021. If VI gets a spin-off game, now is about the time it'd get announced. If they aren't doing a spin-off game, early 2024 would be 3 years from the last content update, but I would assume that if they don't do a spin-off game then maybe Civ VII in 2023 makes more sense. Releasing VII in 2022 would be mean they had one of the shortest content droughts in Civ history. It's far too early to worry about VI being the last version.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I don't think NFP (the unprecedented 3rd post-release content push in the series) will slow down development of Civ VII, because Firaxis had two lead producers, Ed and Anton. Anton was lead on NFP, which freed up Ed to work on something, right? Probably Civ VII. Covid may provide a delay, but I doubt it. Firaxis has some personnel in the office again, according to what I've seen on Twitter, so I doubt there will be a ton of slowing. I lean towards late this year for release, and before July for an announcement.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

The release dates for the First Release (Windows) of the various games in the primary Civ series were:

Sid Meier's Civilization - September 1991
Civilization II - February 1996 (65 months later)
Civilization III - October 2001 (56 months later)
Civilization IV - October 2005 (48 months later)
Civilization V - September 2010 (59 months later)
Civilization VI - October 2016 (73 months later)
Present day (approximately 66 months later)

In other words, we are now "in the window" of the average Time Between Release for a new Civilization game, but between V and VI there was a measurable increase in that timing which may make the average of all the games an unreliable indicator.

I would be Stunned and Appalled if Civ VII has not been in development for at least a year or two already, and I would not be surprised to see a release date even as close as September - October of this year - which would be 71 - 72 months since VI was released. Given the release dates of previous Civilization games, it is also possible that we will wait until September/October 2023 (83 - 84 months since Civ VI), but I think that is too long to leave the gaming community hanging without any major 'update' or DLC for the Civ series (18 - 20 months since the last of NFP in March 2021). IF they have the resources and COVID, war, famine, plagues of gaming locusts, etc don't intervene I expect a Civ VII this year.

I'd suggesting changing calculations to the last release of content (DLC, EP) vs release of next iteraition.