Take-Two head Strauss Zelnick has admitted that Civilization VII, the latest game in the long-running Civilization strategy series, is “off to a slow start”, but he’s confident that 2K and Firaxis can turn the game’s fortunes around.
Speaking to IGN, Zelnick acknowledged that Civilization VII‘s beginnings haven’t exactly been auspicious, and that the development team has had to “make changes” to the game’s initial release version.
He’s likely referring to the fact that when Civilization VII launched, it was met with a mixed reception from the series’ fanbase, with common criticisms including its UI and the sweeping changes made to the game’s core gameplay. 2K and Firaxis subsequently pledged to address those criticisms and to continue updating and improving the game.
Despite Civ VII‘s “slow start”, Zelnick remains optimistic about the game’s “lifetime value”, suggesting that the long-term performance of the game will make up for its less-than-ideal beginnings. He says that “consumer uptake is better and better” when it comes to Civ VII, and that it will eventually “take its place in its civilization pantheon”.
Zelnick says the series “has always been a slow burn”, and so the fact that Civilization VII‘s initial sales have been slow doesn’t mean the lifetime sales will be poor as well.
It’s worth noting that while Civ VII‘s Steam numbers are currently hovering around the 7,000 mark, its predecessor is enjoying about 40,000 active players, and even Civilization V has over double the players of the latest game in the series.
Of course, Civilization is a series for which players often pick their favorite title and stay with it rather than immediately “upgrading”, and so Civilization VII could well achieve the same player numbers as its successors in time. Civ VII is also available on consoles, so many of its players may be on different platforms, too.
You can check out Civilization VII right now on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and both Switch 2 and Switch.
