Summary

  • Civilization franchise remains strong with Civ 7 after 30 years, promising revolutionary changes and big competition in 2025.
  • 2024 saw great strategy game releases, but upcoming titles like Ara: History Untold pose strong competition for Civ 7.
  • While Civilization 7 is a major release in 2025, it will face competition from Ubisoft's Anno 117: Pax Romana in the strategy game market.

There are plenty of big names in the world of strategy video games. Most of the biggest strategy franchises have been around for decades, releasing on early PCs and managing to remain relevant through console ports, remasters, remakes, spinoffs, and, of course, sequels. The Civilization franchise is the perfect example of that. Debuting all the way back in 1991, Civilization has remained one of the biggest and best in the strategy genre for over three decades now, and its legacy is only going to grow stronger with the launch of Civilization 7.

The first new entry in the franchise in almost eight years, there's currently a lot of hype surrounding Civilization 7. While the Civ franchise likes to rest on its laurels, developer Firaxis is touting Civilization 7 as a "revolutionary new chapter" for the series, which suggests big things are on their way. And while the video game market is usually flooded with games all vying for attention at the same time, Civilization 7's release window might let it spread its wings without a fight.

Civilization 7 Has Plenty of Room to Breathe in 2025

2024 Is Still Stacked with Strategy Game Releases

2024 has already been a pretty good year for the strategy genre. Though it wasn't without its fair share of criticism, Homeworld 3 still ended up being a decent Sci-Fi strategy game. Inkulinati was an incredibly unique medieval turn-based strategy game. Manor Lords ended up becoming an unprecedented early access success. And while it didn't quite live up to its lofty expectations, Millennia was a solid 4X strategy experience.

But the best is yet to come. The rest of 2024 is stacked with huge strategy game releases, some of which would have given even Civilization 7 a run for its money. Ara: History Untold would probably have been Civilization 7's biggest competitor, with it being a first-party Xbox 4X strategy game that takes heavy inspiration from the Civ franchise, but adds plenty of its own features to separate it from the crowd.

A slew of other major strategy titles are also dropping alongside Ara: History Untold in September. Crusader Kings 3's Roads to Power expansion is dropping on the same day as Ara, Frostpunk 2 launches just a few days before it, and Age of Mythology: Retold hits consoles and PC at the start of the month. Though all of these games play very differently from Civilization, they would still have given Civ 7 some tough competition. But with a 2025 release window, Civilization 7 will be able to sail straight past all of these would-be competitors.

Civilization 7 Isn't Completely Without Competition in 2025

But it won't be all smooth sailing for Civilization 7. Though it's currently the biggest strategy game set to release in 2025, and one of the biggest releases in general, Civilization 7 does have one or two possible points of competition. The most apparent is probably Ubisoft's Anno 117: Pax Romana, the 8th entry in the long-running historical city-building franchise, this time taking players all the way back to the days of Ancient Rome. But Anno 117 only has a general release window of 2025 as of the time of writing, meaning that it can avoid Civilization 7's launch easily, and give the two strategy games enough room to breathe.

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Sid Meier's Civilization VII Tag Page Cover Art
9 /10

Sid Meier's Civilization VII
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Grand Strategy
Turn-Based Strategy
4X
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Systems
PlayStation-1 Xbox-1 super greyscale 8-bit logo PC-1
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Top Critic Avg: 79 /100 Critics Rec: 77%
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Released
February 11, 2025
ESRB
Everyone 10+ // Alcohol and Tobacco Reference, Mild Language, Mild Violence, Suggestive Themes
Developer(s)
Firaxis Games
Publisher(s)
2K
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Sid Meier's Civilization VII Press Image 1
6 Images
Sid Meier's Civilization VII Press Image 1
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Franchise
Sid Meier's Civilization
Genre(s)
Grand Strategy, Turn-Based Strategy, 4X