The next Civilization game is in development as Firaxis announces leadership changes

[Daniel Sims]

Something to look forward to: Given how long it's been since the last entry, it's about time we started hearing about another Civilization game. The franchise's developer, Firaxis, also announced some high-level departures two months after the launch of its last game – the well-regarded Marvel's Midnight Suns.

This week, Firaxis confirmed the development of another entry in its legendary 4X strategy franchise. There are no details yet; it didn't even say if it's Civilization 7 or a spinoff game. However, the company will be making the game without studio head Steve Martin.

Martin, who spent 27 years at Firaxis, expressed gratitude in a farewell message the studio shared on Twitter. His replacement is Heather Hazen, previously the studio's Chief Operating Officer. Before joining Firaxis in 2020, Hazen was an executive producer on Fortnite, Plants vs Zombies, and Bejeweled.

The last full Civilization release was Sid Meier's Civilization VI in 2016, the 31-year-old franchise's top-selling game. The title received many expansions over the following years, the last of which was 2019's Gathering Storm. Civilization VI creative director Ed Beach will helm the next entry.

Also departing Firaxis is XCOM and Marvel's Midnight Suns designer Jake Solomon. After 23 years with the company, Solomon said he is pursuing a new dream and starting a new chapter.

While the XCOM series is popular, Solomon said last month that he wasn't working on a new entry, likely due to his impending departure. The most recent entries in the franchise were 2016's XCOM 2 and Chimera Squad, which launched in 2020.

Since then, turn-based tactics fans seem to be satisfied with Marvel's Midnight Suns, which Firaxis released in December to positive critical reception. It was PC Gamer's 2022 runner-up Game of the Year. Lauded for its combination of Marvel comic book superheroes with XCOM-like tactical RPG gameplay, the game is free to try on Steam this weekend. Customers can purchase the title during the promotion for 40 percent off.

The discount is part of a sale publisher 2K is running. Civilization VI is 90 percent off, while the complete collection, containing the game and all its expansions, is 86 percent off. That's a potential savings of $180. Chimera Squad and XCOM 2 are just $5 each. The sale also includes other 2K games, including Borderlands, Mafia, and many of its sports titles.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/97653-next-civilization-game-development-firaxis-announces-leadership-changes.html

 

[yRaz]

I'm at this weird point with Civ. Civ6 is better than C5 but they also made changes I don't like. There is a feature in the call to power series where you could have underwater cities with future tech. Civ 6(5 as well), the game stops changing around the modern era and there isn't much to do in the game. With a civ 7 I'd very much like to see an emphasis with future tech and bringing back underwater cities

 

[Zinixo]

Wish they would get rid of city states.

 

[winjer]

I just wish they would improve the AI.
It' really incompetent and the only way it can keep up with the player is by stacking a ton of buffs on higher difficulties.

Civ VII could have the same graphics, animations, music, etc. But please Firaxis, fix the AI.

 

[Julnor]

Sid Meiers himself doesn't work on it at all? Wonder why they have his name on it still.

Also putting someone that's been there for 2 years in charge seems an odd decision. Was there really nobody else? I assume that means none of the devs from even the 2016 game are still around.

 

[psycros]

Sid Meiers himself doesn't work on it at all? Wonder why they have his name on it still.

Also putting someone that's been there for 2 years in charge seems an odd decision. Was there really nobody else? I assume that means none of the devs from even the 2016 game are still around.

"Before joining Firaxis in 2020, Hazen was an executive producer on Fortnite, Plants vs Zombies, and Bejeweled."

Its pretty obvious where this is going. Civ 7: Age of Microtransactions.

 

[yRaz]

"Before joining Firaxis in 2020, Hazen was an executive producer on Fortnite, Plants vs Zombies, and Bejeweled."

Its pretty obvious where this is going. Civ 7: Age of Microtransactions.

1 loot box per turn

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I expect nothing. Firaxis has made multiple wet farts in the last decade, like the more recent XCOM being a laugh track away from a weeknight sitcom about kooky characters getting along in college, or CIV:BE. Even "midnight suns" was changed from "midnight sons" because the word "son" is PrObLeMaTiC. The next CIV will be an empty shell of what came before, guaranteed to be missing features and content, but feature a higher price!

Thank god CIV IV is on GOG

I just wish they would improve the AI.
It' really incompetent and the only way it can keep up with the player is by stacking a ton of buffs on higher difficulties.

Civ VII could have the same graphics, animations, music, etc. But please Firaxis, fix the AI.

A FRIGGIN MEN BROTHER! Civ V's AI is beyond stupid. I should not be able to defeat a 20+ unit military with a single infantry and artillery piece sitting in one city. And yet, the AI is more then happy to shovel its units into a meat grinder because LOL WAT IS HEXAGON.

I remember a theory being presented many eons ago, and its one that has held up, that firaxis when shifting from squares to hexagons never bothered upgrading or re-writing the AI to take advantage of 6 way movement, or move away from stacking units on the same tile. This would explain why the AI is more then willing to shove artillery units in front of infantry and try to zerg you.

And dont get me started on the AI not willing to make trade deals unless you are besties, or how abusive the warmongering system is. It's so broken that I refused to buy civ VI, and by the videos I've watched the AI is STILL braindead.

"Before joining Firaxis in 2020, Hazen was an executive producer on Fortnite, Plants vs Zombies, and Bejeweled."

Its pretty obvious where this is going. Civ 7: Age of Microtransactions.

Well RIP. Any hope anyone has of CIV VII not being trash is long lost.

 

[alexnode]

The problem with these 30+years franchises is that they are like dinosaurs. If you drastically reimagine the whole thing, 30 million of faithful fans will get really angry.
If you make small iterative adjustments, it's just very dull and a bit of a cash grab.
I love the game but I haven't played it in the last 6 years at all. I played 6 after release for one game on easy... 10 hours max.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The problem with these 30+years franchises is that they are like dinosaurs. If you drastically reimagine the whole thing, 30 million of faithful fans will get really angry.
If you make small iterative adjustments, it's just very dull and a bit of a cash grab.
I love the game but I haven't played it in the last 6 years at all. I played 6 after release for one game on easy... 10 hours max.

I feel like that's a cop out. There's plenty firaxis could do. The specialization on VI was well received, and there's a lot that could be changed to make it smoother both for more specialization and for cities that are not specialized. The AI, as mentioned before, needs drastically changed. The trading system also needs a major overhaul. All of this would be positively received by the player base, and given how well copy pasted games with less content sell today, I don't think being "similar" is a problem here.

That's a whole new game or two right there. But since it can't justify microtransactions and it's not shiny, the devs won't touch it.

 

[Tantor]

The problem with these 30+years franchises is that they are like dinosaurs. If you drastically reimagine the whole thing, 30 million of faithful fans will get really angry.
If you make small iterative adjustments, it's just very dull and a bit of a cash grab.
I love the game but I haven't played it in the last 6 years at all. I played 6 after release for one game on easy... 10 hours max.

Yes, it's hard to deliver a worthy sequel. But we should make a distinction between two kinds of games. Those that tell a story (Skyrim, Dying Light, etc), and those that are just games.

The story games can survive on issuing content DLCs. Much like any serial movie.

For example, Bethesda should come out with some more Skyrim DLC. Keep the regular graphics and mechanics, but give us some REAL STORY CONTENT. Not more armor or guns. I would be happy to pay for more scenarios, quests, cities, dungeons and a new storyline. Bethesda seems content to rest on their laurels. But they are leaving huge amounts of income on the table by ignoring Elder Scrolls.

The same thing goes for Dying Light 1, which is superior to Dying Light 2 in terms of basic mechanics. More Story Content. More scenery.

Regarding Civilization, the peak was reached with CIV IV. Everything after that is rehash. The switch to hexagons actually reduced the access paths to a space from 8 to 6. It also reduced the types of path from 2 (diagonal and direct) to just one (direct). Note that Chess actually has 3 access paths if you include knight movement. Which is why Civ V and VI seem so boring. Also, Sid Meier's insistence on having everything presented on the main map, instead of pop-up mini maps, further reduced my interest.

Hopefully Ms. Hazen has some good ideas. If she doesn't, then just please minimize the woke influence.

 

[loki1944]

Honestly after how awful Civ VI was; I'll just stick to Civ V if I'm wanting something simple; Civ IV if I want more complexity; and Civ II if I want fantastic FMV.

 

[Steezus]

Civ VI felt like they added a lot of artificial depth where you are just hitting buttons to adjust things that aren't very fun or add much value to the game. So I never was able to get into it and stuck with Civ V, which holds up pretty well to this day.

So it is good to hear they are getting new leadership, but then learning the new guy comes from microtransaction gaming... I guess it will be another 10 years before they take another stab at making a decent Civ game again.

 

[rsmith222]

It would be nice if the engine would be made with a fast programming language instead of one that's molasses-slow.