Civilization 7’s situation on Steam remains bad as rivals stay active. One received „divine” expansion, and the other gets features, missing from Firaxis new strategy

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As Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 developers work on rebuilding fan trust, their rival game, Old World, has been blessed with the announced “divine” expansion. Soon, diplomatic and nuclear elements will be incorporated into Ara: History Untold.

In comparison to the sixth Civilization, the Old World hasn’t come close, particularly when considering player numbers and opinions. Even Civilization 7, despite being a later release and enjoying more simultaneous players on Steam, has seen a consistent decrease in daily users since its launch, with relatively mixed reviews on Valve’s platform.

Initially, the first significant update for “Old World” didn’t alter the current state, as indicated by the limited number of reviews on Steam, predominantly positive. However, a look at Steam data (through SteamDB) reveals that the release of “Wrath of the Gods” drew players towards “Old World.” In fact, the simultaneous player count for the game developed by Mohawk Games studio surged, with 2,428 users playing it concurrently – this number nearly doubled or even tripled from its initial peak.

The game is still a ways off from matching the records set by Civilization 7 or Overwatch, but it’s getting closer to Humankind’s performance. Moreover, the Mohawk Games studio’s creation has garnered much more positive feedback on Steam compared to other titles.

Explosive diplomacy

Update 1.3 for the game “Ara: History Untold” is introducing new elements, including a popular diplomatic feature from the game “Civilization” known as Gandhi’s favorite – the Atomic Bomb option (as reported by PC Gamer).

In my gaming world, I’ve just learned about the upcoming Diplomacy Update straight from the developers on Steam. This isn’t just about blowing each other up with nukes; it’s about broadening our strategies for engaging with other nations. We’ll now have the chance to offer military aid, make payments as tributes, or even resort to bribes to sway the decisions of other leaders. Additionally, this update will provide us with valuable insights into the circumstances of the surviving civilizations, giving us a more comprehensive view of the game’s world.

We’ll also provide a summary of historical interactions, recent developments, and artificial intelligence actions relevant to diplomacy. To enhance the experience, we’re adding features such as displaying the game difficulty level in saved states and an automatic exploration option for naval units.

We’ll give you a rundown of past relationships, current events, and AI actions that relate to diplomacy. We’re improving things by showing the game’s difficulty level in saved games and letting ships explore automatically.

Next week, we’ll uncover more details about update 1.3. Hopefully, this will help us achieve those coveted “blue” Steam reviews, as they have been gradually improving recently. For now, the game maintains an overall rating of “mixed,” with 67% positive feedback.

Influx of players and “positives” didn’t threaten Civ 7

The concept equally applies to the earlier discussed entity known as Humankind, which underwent the Achilles Update in mid-February. This update not only brought significant upgrades (including the previously announced war support changes, or rather their absence), but also new historical figures such as Napoleon and Sun Tzu, along with improvements inspired by fan feedback. Result: A high 83% of positive reviews on Steam within the past 30 days.

It seems unlikely that recent updates will cause games like “Humankind,” “Old World,” or “Ara: History Untold” to overthrow “Civilization” in the 4X strategy genre. Despite criticism and a decline in players for “Civilization 7,” there are still more individuals playing it concurrently than those combined who play these three games. However, it’s worth considering whether the appeal of these newer titles is due to positive reception towards their updates and DLCs or dissatisfaction with “Civilization 7.” Fans of the genre remain eager to explore these new options, but it remains uncertain if their interest is solely driven by the enhancements or a disenchantment with “Civilization 7.

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2025-03-10 14:02