Firaxis And 2K Promise "Free Updates" To 'Civilization VII' After Game Receives "Mixed" Reviews
Firaxis and 2K promised that it is working on a number of “free updates” to Civilization VII after the game received “Mixed” reviews following its release.
In a recent update on Steam, Firaxis and 2K stated, “We’re taking in all your feedback as we shape the road ahead for Civilization VII. Work is already underway on free updates to the game including ongoing improvements to the UI, the addition of community-requested features, and other quality-of-life updates.”
They added, “Stay tuned for more details, including a development roadmap we’ll be sharing in the coming weeks.”
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Firaxis had previously indicated that fixing the game’s UI was its top priority. In a blog post, it wrote, “Our top priority is improving the UI. We need some time to digest all of your feedback, but some areas that we're already looking into include making UI interactions more intuitive, improving map readability, fixing areas of polish like formatting, and more. We're committed to getting this right, and will share more details as soon as we can.”
It also indicated it was working on various features including: Adding Teams to multiplayer games so you can play cooperatively; Allowing full player counts in multiplayer in all three Ages through refinements to our Distant Lands system; Allowing you to pick your starting and ending Age to allow for single or double Age games; Providing a wider variety of map types; Enabling city and religion names to be customized; and Adding in hotseat multiplayer.”
This promise comes in the wake of the game currently having a 51.81% SteamDB rating with just 51.9% of all reviews being positive and 48.1% being negative.
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Furthermore, the game’s peak player counts are less than half of what Civilization VI had when it debuted back in October 2016.
Civilization VI had a peak player count of 162,657. In contrast, Civilization VII’s all-time peak concurrent currently sits at 80,103.
Furthermore, Civilization VI had a 24-hour peak of 66,211 while Civilization VII clocked in at 78,843.
The game has received a ton of negative feedback. One individual recommended against purchasing it stating, “No, at least not right now. The game has potential, but in its current state, it feels incomplete and unsatisfying. The high price tag is unjustified, and the business model, seemingly built around DLCs, makes it even less appealing.”
He advised, “My advice? Wait a year. Maybe with updates and expansions, it will become the game that fans deserve. For now, you’re better off sticking with Civ VI or exploring other alternatives.”
Another wrote, “The game just doesn't work yet. And even if it did work, it doesn't expose enough strategic information for you to play it the way you'll want to. A deep discount won't make this game playable. Wait until the game is playable. It's not there yet.”
Even positive reviews that recommend the game point out a lot of problems with it. One individual wrote, “The UI is murky, its unclear whether im upgrading a tiles production or downgrading it. Theres no readout of the positives of what specialist do for a district, Tech tree advances feel minimal until very very late game, Faith based gameplay is a shadow of what it was. Diplomacy seems odd, the ai Allies will spy on you with no downside stealing massive amounts of science and culture, any retaliation will cause game wide hostilities toward you. You also have to change Civs every age which includes reverting of non capital cities back to towns and repositioning of all your troops which is a HUGE negative for me.”
He added, “The game looks great, Generals are a great positive IMO, but the game feels heavily optimised for console and therefore lacking in depth.”
Ultimately, he concluded, “Tentative recommend for newcomers, Pass for Vets until signifigant changes are made via patch or DLC.”
What do you make of Firaxis and 2K’s promise?
CIV series peaked with CIV4.
CIV2 is still playable.
Thanks. I was planning on getting this game. Guess, I'll wait. I can keep playing Civ VI.