Civilization 7 is out, and while the game has launched to a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, the boss of parent company Take-Two believes hardcore fans of the series will eventually come to love it.
Firaxis’ 4X strategy sequel is currently available to those who pay more for advanced access, typically more hardcore fans of Civilization. And they’re certainly letting their voices be known in Steam user reviews, highlighting issues with the user interface, a lack of map variety, and a feeling that the game has launched without a number of features fans have come to expect.
Firaxis has responded to this feedback, promising improvements to the UI, the addition of teams to multiplayer games so people can play co-operatively, and a wider variety of map types, among other things.
In an interview with IGN ahead of the release of third quarter financial results, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick acknowledged that Civilization 7 had received some negative reviews from press and players, namechecking Eurogamer’s 2/5 review, but insisted that the “legacy Civ audience” will come around the more they play, and called Civilization 7’s early performance “very encouraging.”
“The Metacritic reviews are at 81, which is really solid,” Zelnick said. “We have more than 20 press reviews with a score over 90. We have some negative outliers as well, including a 40 from Eurogamer.
“We think that as people play the game longer, the sentiment improves because with every launch of a new Civ, the team pushes the envelope a little bit and our legacy Civ audience is a little bit nervous about what they initially see and then they realize, wow, this is actually really incredible, and they dive in.
“So we feel really, really good about it. We know we have a couple of issues. We have a bit of an issue with the UI, for example. We’ll address that. So I wouldn’t say the early access release is perfect in every way. I think it’s very, very encouraging and I think the areas that are concerning are areas that we can and will address, and as you can tell, we’re quite mindful of them.”
Zelnick’s mention of hardcore Civ players being a little nervous about Civ 7 at launch is no-doubt a reference to some of the dramatic changes Firaxis has made to the game.
A full campaign in Civilization 7 is one that goes through all three Ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. Once the Age is completed, all players (and any AI opponents) experience an Age Transition simultaneously. During an Age Transition, three things happen: you select a new civilization from the new Age to represent your empire, you choose which Legacies you want to retain in the new Age, and the game world evolves. The Civilization games have never had such a system. Clearly, Zelnick believes Civ fans will come to love it over time.
In the shorter term, Firaxis has work to do turning sentiment around, particularly on Steam. A game’s Steam user review rating is crucial for its success on Valve’s platform. Not only is it a very public indication of what a player base thinks of a game, but it affects visibility on Steam itself.
Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
