Summary
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick is unconcerned about the mixed reception ofSid Meier’s Civilization 7, which continues to draw polarizing reactions months after launch. While he acknowledged the game had some issues at launch, the executive believesCivilization 7now has a bright future ahead of it.
The seventh numbered entry in the seminal 4X strategy franchise launched in mid-February 2025.Civilization 7reviewed decentlycompared to the average game release, but underperformed critically relative to the rest of the franchise and some other Firaxis titles. It currently holds an average score of 79 and a 77% reviewer recommendation rate on OpenCritic. Its fan reception appears noticeably worse, as underlined by its “Mixed” player rating on Steam, based on over 31,000 submissions. It is the onlyCivilizationgame to lack a positive user score on Valve’s storefront as of this writing.
While it won’t go down in history as thehighest-ratedCivilizationgame ever, Firaxis’s latest title hasn’t raised any major concerns from the higher-ups at Take-Two. “We definitely had some challenges at launch,” Zelnick conceded in a recent interview withGamesIndustry.biz. Nevertheless, the CEO insisted Take-Two is overall pleased with the game, and has historical reasons to believeCivilization 7’s mixed reception is par for the course rather than something demanding a massive correction. “Every time we’ve come out with a new platform iteration ofCivilization, there’s been some consternation on the part of consumers who love the franchise and are beholden to its prior iteration,” Zelnick said.
Civilization 7 Selling Well Despite Mixed Reviews
The CEO expects that community skepticism surroundingCivilization 7will wane over time, as Firaxis keeps addressing concerns and delivering more content. Take-Two anticipates that the game will enjoy a long sales cycle, similar to its predecessors. In the meantime, Zelnick maintains thatCivilization 7is already performing well commercially.Civilization 7led the sales on its largest target platformbefore it even hit the market, fueled solely by the strength of its pre-orders. Separately, Circana recently reported thatCivilization 7is currently one of 2025’s best-selling games in the U.S., ranking eighth as of early May. Both achievements support Zelnick’s claim thatCivilization 7is selling well.
Every time we’ve come out with a new platform iteration of Civilization, there’s been some consternation on the part of consumers who love the franchise and are beholden to its prior iteration.
Civilization 7 Player Activity Plummeted
However, PC player engagement metrics tell another story:Civilization 7is currently struggling to retain players. As of May 18, its 24-hour concurrent Steam player peak amounted to 11,829 users, according to SteamDB. For comparison,Civilization 6had a peak of 46,207 people during the same period. Even the 15-year-oldCivilization 5is currently being played by more people thanCiv 7, by a ratio of 2-to-1.
Current community criticism ofCivilization 7largely centers on complaints that the game is overly simplified and lacks polish. Firaxis has acknowledged some of these concerns and adjusted its near-term plans in response, includingdelaying someCivilization 7content to focus on quality-of-life updatesthat players are demanding.
