Civilization 8 could be a proper early access game – "never say never", comment Firaxis

Civilization 7 has been through a sizeable array of changes since launch in February next year, amid some very uncivilised reactions to boat-rocking features like the new age format. The next update, Test Of Time, will restore the ability to play as one civilization through the whole game, while making changes to how victories are earned in the hope of creating some lategame variety.

All these tweaks and rejigs invite a more fundamental question. “Why didn’t they just launch it as an early access game?” I remember moaning to another journalist last year. I should have directed my moaning at executive producer Dennis Shirk, who says that Firaxis are tentatively open to the idea and, indeed, “jealous” of developers taking this approach.

That’s a snippet from an Ars Technica interview this week in which Shirk and franchise creative director Ed Beach look back on the transition from Civilization VI to Civilization VII, and what they might try with the hypothetical Civilization 8.

One of the major changes with Civilization VI was that Firaxis had access to lot more player telemetry, compared to Civilisation V, rather than monitoring the feedback on Reddit and fansites like CivFanatics. Amongst other things, they discovered that most players don’t finish a single game, which is part of the reason for Civ 7’s more broken-up, modular historical progression.

Based on the reaction to Civ 7, the devs are trying to get hold of that feedback earlier in development of new mechanics or systems. “It’s the worst-kept secret in the world that we’ve had this external test team for quite a few years called our Frankenstein Group,” Beach told the site.

With publisher 2K’s input, the Frankenstein Group is being expanded into a larger and more structured playtesting program, the Firaxis Feature Workshop. (I enjoy the implication that a bunch of mad scientists have gone mainstream – I’m picturing Doc Brown, Doctor Octopus and Doctor Eggman at an investor fare, explaining the nutritional benefits of formaldehyde to passing soccer moms.)

Officially embracing full early access development (not just preorder-baiting ‘advanced access’) would surely make a lot of sense for Civ, even discounting the ire aimed at Civ 7. After all, even the best 4X strategy games tend to evolve a lot throughout their shelf lives. Ars Technica popped the question, and Shirk had this to say: “It’s one of those things that you can never say never. As developers, we’re always looking at that jealously because we see that it’s a great opportunity.”

Even so, I doubt it’ll ever happen, because when you present yourself as selling an unfinished game, it’s harder to charge $70 or more for it upfront. Still, perhaps the wilting fortunes of Civ 7 will persuade 2K and Take-Two Interactive to be more calculating with the game’s development process.

Civ 7 set a series record for preorders, but has struggled to match its predecessors in terms of Steam concurrent users. Speaking in August last year, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick confessed that the game had gotten off to a “slow start” with the caveat that “Civ has always been a slow burn” and “right now our projections for the lifetime value of the title are very consistent with our initial expectations for the title.” The publishers have yet to share any total sales figures.

The broader question around Civ going early access is whether “early access” really means anything, any more, inasmuch as “early access” has sort of bled into “live service”. Most games of a certain scale receive a number of updates post-launch, and players have come to expect them, with a vocal minority pillorying games as “dead” if too many months go past without substantial changes. I think there’s probably a longer feature to write there – do you have any thoughts?