Will there actually be a Civ 7?

[Eagle Pursuit]

On the other hand, about 2 months ago I asked Ed if it was a good time to advocate for Ukraine in Civ VII. Just for fun, here was his response.

If that was a forthright answer and not just a cheerful expression of slava ukraini spirit, it would indicate they were still laying out the civ selection for Civ VII vanilla. And therefore, a 2023 release is more optimistic than 2022

 

[Pistol90]

I also think that after Gathering Storm, Ed (and probably most of senior devs) started work on Civ 7 .... you can see it even on general quality of NFP compared to Gathering storm.

That means game is already 3 years in development, so announcement could come this year (probably would if there were no covid) or next year in spring/summer (my guess)

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Between 1 and 2 was 53 months, not 65.

Edited Original. Thanx.

 

[Linklite]

On the other hand, about 2 months ago I asked Ed if it was a good time to advocate for Ukraine in Civ VII. Just for fun, here was his response.

If that was a forthright answer and not just a cheerful expression of slava ukraini spirit, it would indicate they were still laying out the civ selection for Civ VII vanilla. And therefore, a 2023 release is more optimistic than 2022

I think that is a reasonably large assumption though. It could just be a reference to supporting Ukraine. Or Expansion Packs or DLCs or to add it into vanilla but after the roster had been done or...

I wouldn't take it to mean anything.

 

[aieeegrunt]

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

Good to hear I guess

lol I guess that wasn’t exactly clear

I’d rather see a more refined Civ 6 than they try a bunch of entirely new things for 7

 

[Leyrann]

On the other hand, about 2 months ago I asked Ed if it was a good time to advocate for Ukraine in Civ VII. Just for fun, here was his response.

If that was a forthright answer and not just a cheerful expression of slava ukraini spirit, it would indicate they were still laying out the civ selection for Civ VII vanilla. And therefore, a 2023 release is more optimistic than 2022

I'd think that creating the civs is somewhere near the end of game design. Wouldn't be surprised if for a long time, all testing is done with a template civ that grants no bonuses; after all, every civ in the eventual game is basically that template civ with a few whistles and bells.

The only reason to start earlier would probably be the visuals and speech, but does that really need a full year?

On the topic of Ukraine, I could see Kievan Rus' as a civilization, occupying one of the 'uncommon' civ slots similar to Scythia or Kongo in base game Civ VI, or maybe as part of an expansion, but the modern nation of Ukraine doesn't have enough significance nor an available leader that isn't too recent, I'd say.

lol I guess that wasn’t exactly clear

I’d rather see a more refined Civ 6 than they try a bunch of entirely new things for 7

Very much agree here, Civ VI has a very strong base in terms of concepts and mechanics, but it could do with more polishing and refinement.

 

[snakeboy]

I think it's safe to say that Civ7 will release anywhere between Late 2022 and Fall 2023. And if it comes this year we will know very soon. No official announcement before Summer = 2023.
My bet would be March/April 2023, and an announcement in Sept/Oct this year.

 

[UWHabs]

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.

It wouldn't surprise me if due to a variety of factors, they decided on doing the NFP expansion for civ 6 rather than as a standalone spinoff like Colonization or BE. It was probably both less work, since you only need to design a few civs and couple buildings and units, and maybe even sold as many or more copies as the spinoffs would have.

But yeah, if there is a spinoff game, it should be imminent, and then 7 probably comes in 2ish years. If NFP was our spin-off replacement, then sometime next year would make sense for civ 7 to fall.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

I'd think that creating the civs is somewhere near the end of game design. Wouldn't be surprised if for a long time, all testing is done with a template civ that grants no bonuses; after all, every civ in the eventual game is basically that template civ with a few whistles and bells.

The only reason to start earlier would probably be the visuals and speech, but does that really need a full year?

On the topic of Ukraine, I could see Kievan Rus' as a civilization, occupying one of the 'uncommon' civ slots similar to Scythia or Kongo in base game Civ VI, or maybe as part of an expansion, but the modern nation of Ukraine doesn't have enough significance nor an available leader that isn't too recent, I'd say.



Very much agree here, Civ VI has a very strong base in terms of concepts and mechanics, but it could do with more polishing and refinement.

Not necessairly, playtesting and balance is the big thing, and you can start doing that as early as you get some core systems in (benefits, improvement system, etc.)

Not to mention they probably have a roster of definitive civs, America, England, France, Germany, Russia, China, India, are all probably going to be lock-ins as they were pretty much always included (among few others).

They may not be the final version of those civs but they do need some different civilizations to test the game with.

 

[Leyrann]

Not necessairly, playtesting and balance is the big thing, and you can start doing that as early as you get some core systems in (benefits, improvement system, etc.)

Not to mention they probably have a roster of definitive civs, America, England, France, Germany, Russia, China, India, are all probably going to be lock-ins as they were pretty much always included (among few others).

They may not be the final version of those civs but they do need some different civilizations to test the game with.

You can test almost the entire game with a blank civ with no special abilities. Only balance between civilizations requires you to play with actual, worked-out civilizations, and for a single-player focused game, balance targets aren't that tight. Of course, some balance games are certainly needed, but familiarity with the game itself will give the designers an idea of what is balanced in the first place, and then it's just a matter of making sure no civ will steamroll the rest of the civs by virtue of it's unique abilities. Including tinkering in between, I'd be surprised if more than 5-6 games per civ would be needed (as in, a player piloting them), making for a total of 100-120 games (assuming 20 civs) spread between playtesters. Give four me's two months full-time and it's done.

Of course, that wouldn't be all the playtesting. The rest would be observing how the AI pilots the other civs in those games and AI Battle Royales which can be ran with little oversight, like Firaxis explicitly did for Civ VI. But those are lower quality information.

 

[Chekko]

Since Humankind basically showed Civ they have a competitor I think Firaxis really want to release an even more amazing Civ sequel now. If Humankind hadn't been, I think Civ 7 would be released by now or at least announced.

 

[steveg700]

So...Should there be a Civ VII? (he asked half-sarcastically)

We've gone from a landscape where for years historical 4X was this one game. We accepted the idea of some simple element like an undo button was impossible and game-crashing. We see straight-faced innovation, whereas Civ VI incrementally became injected with a lot of what seemed to me as a lot of half-backed cuteness. Civ VI is painting itself into a corner of being a self-effacing game with light, procedural gameplay and little narrative.

 

[pokiehl]

Since Humankind basically showed Civ they have a competitor I think Firaxis really want to release an even more amazing Civ sequel now. If Humankind hadn't been, I think Civ 7 would be released by now or at least announced.

I would be surprised to learn that Humankind factored much into their plans at all, especially after its lackluster reception. I do hope they take some of the good ideas and adapt them though.

So...Should there be a Civ VII? (he asked half-sarcastically)

We've gone from a landscape where for years historical 4X was this one game. We accepted the idea of some simple element like an undo button was impossible and game-crashing. We see straight-faced innovation, whereas Civ VI incrementally became injected with a lot of what seemed to me as a lot of half-backed cuteness. Civ VI is painting itself into a corner of being a self-effacing game with light, procedural gameplay and little narrative.

sorry, I don’t really understand the point you’re making here. Can you clarify?

 

[steveg700]

sorry, I don’t really understand the point you’re making here. Can you clarify?

Let me try this way are we simply asking for a brand name to be perpetuated? Is there any core gameplay or experience that we desire from a Civ VII that represents an itch that other games can't scratch?

I s'pose by way of example, something I like in Civ that other games drop the ball on are wonders. Completing a wonder is pretty satisfying in Civ and feel "owned" by that franchise. All other 4X games--historical or otherwise--do not present their version of wonders as anything too exciting. I have a lot of admiration for The Old World, however the approach to wonders is pretty bland.

 

[vorlon_mi]

My day job is working in IT for a major industrial company in the USA. Our IT functions moved from in-the-office to remote-working very quickly, with very little loss in productivity. The data centers and infrastructure didn't care where the people were located. I would expect that Firaxis infrastructure (file servers, network gear, render farm) didn't need much tweaking to adjust to remote working. It wouldn't surprise me if key Firaxis folks took their development rigs home. Playtesting could occur over a VPN, or using virtual PCs hosted in their data center or in the cloud. Those aspects were not where I would expect the impact of COVID to be felt.

Where we felt the effects, and where I would guess Firaxis could have been affected, was illness to one or more key personnel. If a person were hospitalized for 3 weeks or more, or suffered effects post recovery (a.k.a. "long COVID"), then the overall schedule for a big software project could be lengthened.

 

[black213]

I can't say I'm excited for another Civ game with limited modding potential

 

[Xur]

I just hope Firaxis can find a way out of their echo chamber, and learn from all the flaws that civ6 had. All 2K/Firaxis marketing is borderline lies, so I’ll be waiting for longer than usual with a potential purchase. No need to buy something that I have to spend more time modding/fixing, than playing.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I s'pose by way of example, something I like in Civ that other games drop the ball on are wonders. Completing a wonder is pretty satisfying in Civ and feel "owned" by that franchise. All other 4X games--historical or otherwise--do not present their version of wonders as anything too exciting. I have a lot of admiration for The Old World, however the approach to wonders is pretty bland.

I'd like to add that having historical leaders are something that other games, like Humankind and Old World, did not have which is what I like.

 

[steveg700]

I'd like to add that having historical leaders are something that other games, like Humankind and Old World, did not have which is what I like.

Well, TOW has historical leaders. Playing Alexander is possible. They grow old and die tho.

 

[Leyrann]

I would be surprised to learn that Humankind factored much into their plans at all, especially after its lackluster reception. I do hope they take some of the good ideas and adapt them though.

Just don't add any kind of regions or sectors or anything like that please. I dislike the concept in general (only Age of Wonders: Planetfall had any kind of decent execution, and that felt rather embedded in the sci-fi nature of the game), and it quite simply doesn't fit Civilization in my opinion. This is probably my biggest worry, as these seem to be all the hype right now.

My day job is working in IT for a major industrial company in the USA. Our IT functions moved from in-the-office to remote-working very quickly, with very little loss in productivity. The data centers and infrastructure didn't care where the people were located. I would expect that Firaxis infrastructure (file servers, network gear, render farm) didn't need much tweaking to adjust to remote working. It wouldn't surprise me if key Firaxis folks took their development rigs home. Playtesting could occur over a VPN, or using virtual PCs hosted in their data center or in the cloud. Those aspects were not where I would expect the impact of COVID to be felt.

Where we felt the effects, and where I would guess Firaxis could have been affected, was illness to one or more key personnel. If a person were hospitalized for 3 weeks or more, or suffered effects post recovery (a.k.a. "long COVID"), then the overall schedule for a big software project could be lengthened.

I believe Paradox explicitly stated Covid as reason for Crusader Kings III content moving slower.