Civilization 7 Launch: Half the Steam Peak of Civilization 6?

Civilization 7 is finally here, and while the early access crowd has had a taste, today's the day everyone can jump in. It's been a long wait since Civ 6, and let's be honest, there's been some nervous chatter about Civ 7 shaking things up – especially with those leader changes. The initial reviews weren't exactly glowing, but they're slowly climbing, which is a good sign. And yeah, we've hit a new peak player count on Steam, though it's worth noting it's about half of what Civ 6 pulled in back in 2016. But hey, multi-platform launch and all that, right? That's definitely a big piece of the puzzle.

It's crazy to think it's been over eight years since we got a new mainline Civ game. Civ 6 has been a staple, getting tons of love with expansions and updates, so expectations for Civ 7 were understandably high. And with all the changes, especially to gameplay, people were definitely curious (and maybe a little worried).

The early access period for Civilization 7 showed us some things. Players weren't entirely happy, with gripes about the UI and performance, alongside those big gameplay shifts. That initial 44% positive rating on Steam? Ouch. Thankfully, it's been creeping up, hitting 52% as of the full launch. Still not amazing, but hey, it's progress, and Firaxis is already on top of things with patches.

So, about that player count. We're looking at a multi-platform release – PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, Steam, Epic – the whole shebang. So, Steam's just one piece of the pie. During early access, Civ 7 peaked at around 66,000 concurrent players. Today? Just over 80,000. Not a massive jump, but a jump nonetheless.

Now, here's the thing: Civ 6's Steam launch peaked at 162,000 players. So, yeah, Civ 7 is at about half that. But remember, Civ 6 was a PC exclusive for a while before hitting other platforms. Civ 7's going for the simultaneous multi-platform release, which makes a big difference. It's like comparing apples and oranges, kind of. Firaxis probably hoped for a closer match, however the broader release strategy changes the game.

It's still early days for Civilization 7. Patches are coming, reviews are (slowly) improving, and more players are jumping in. Whether it reaches the heights of Civ 6 remains to be seen, but the multi-platform launch definitely throws a wrench into direct comparisons.