Civ VII - 8th best selling game in 2025

[Mountain Man]

https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/2025-best-selling-games/2900-6281/#:~:text=2025's%20best-sellers&text=It%20only%20trails%20the%20current,Wilds%20and%20Assassin's%20Creed%3A%20Shadows.

So much for claims that it's a flop.

[GlenDronach]

It is a flop...Big one!Lets see at the end of the year,if it makes top 100..Sales was good,because of a very loyal fanbase of Civgamers who preordered......Would be fun to know how many who preordered this junk,deleted it right after !Like me...

[SLG]

Originally posted by GlenDronach:

It is a flop...Big one!Lets see at the end of the year,if it makes top 100..Sales was good,because of a very loyal fanbase of Civgamers who preordered......Would be fun to know how many who preordered this junk,deleted it right after !Like me...

I still have it installed and playing it.

[Fleetwood]

Being 8th best at a thing isn't how success is typically viewed ( I say "typically" because I'm typing this in a place where we have people posting hits like "numbers lie" when looking at the game's performance).

In the normal world the results are weighed against the expectations. What place did they EXPECT to be in? Lmk when you find out, then we can discuss whether they're happy with the results or hoped for a better reception.

[Rhapsody]

It's very hard to imagine Civ VII being a flop when it's ranking 8th compared to KC:D2's 4th position. Mixed reviews isn't good for a Civ certainly, but user reviews are user reviews and they are demonstrably full of trash.

[Fleetwood]

I wonder if Firaxis will hang an "8th Best!!!" banner outside of the office. 🤔 Should be great for morale.

[JerBeware]

We're 4 months into the year and the rest of the list is based on titles that didn't even release this year, while basing numbers solely on 4 months of 'pure dollars sold' from this year.

For comparison sake, they list Hogwart's Legacy on there in the top 20 which released
over a year ago. They're also comparing it to games like Madden, which released almost a year ago, so it makes sense that it's current sales would be lower (after all people are gearing up for the next release).

Also this is all with the caveat that they admit it's based on incomplete data.

But yes, if you want to hang your hat on that, fine. Meanwhile a remaster of a 20 year old game beat it by five spots for third place in pretty much a week.

Sounds a good bit like a flop. Of the current competition you can say it beat Avowed at least, so there is that? Every other title below it on the list isn't a 'current' release, with the exception of Split Fiction which I had never heard of.

Another way of looking at the list, is that Civ VII is in the bottom 3 of titles on that list for products released this year (beating only the two aforementioned titles Split Fiction and Avowed).

[VikingOne]

Originally posted by GlenDronach:

It is a flop...Big one!Lets see at the end of the year,if it makes top 100..Sales was good,because of a very loyal fanbase of Civgamers who preordered......Would be fun to know how many who preordered this junk,deleted it right after !Like me...

I still have it installed and is playing it ;-)

[Zack]

Originally posted by Rhapsody:

Mixed reviews isn't good for a Civ certainly, but user reviews are user reviews and they are demonstrably full of trash.

They are not trash, they do as you requested they do…
Give a bad game your negative review and be done with it. Most people who dislike a game are not interested putting work in a negative review.

They left their voice and are done with it. Don‘t sell it as trash, only because you do not agree with them!

[Martin]

Originally posted by Mountain Man:

https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/2025-best-selling-games/2900-6281/#:~:text=2025's%20best-sellers&text=It%20only%20trails%20the%20current,Wilds%20and%20Assassin's%20Creed%3A%20Shadows.

So much for claims that it's a flop. :104:

7k online.
It's a flop.
But I still play once in a while.

By comparison Civ 6 25k online.

[Psychosis]

dont know numbers nor do i really care but sold well doesn't mean its not a flop - many pre-purchased thinking it would be good - just like say command and conquer 4 or kings bounty 2 which both killed those franchises due to their departure from previous games

Originally posted by Rhapsody:

It's very hard to imagine Civ VII being a flop when it's ranking 8th compared to KC:D2's 4th position. Mixed reviews isn't good for a Civ certainly, but user reviews are user reviews and they are demonstrably full of trash.

you are saying your opinion is trash ?

[Leland Palmer]

Originally posted by Mountain Man:

https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/2025-best-selling-games/2900-6281/#:~:text=2025's%20best-sellers&text=It%20only%20trails%20the%20current,Wilds%20and%20Assassin's%20Creed%3A%20Shadows.

So much for claims that it's a flop. :104:

Given the fact that Firaxis 'used the power that is the good reputation that Civilization games usually have' - everyone (almost) bought the game and expected great things from it.
Sadly we (some™) were quite disappointed.
But Firaxis made bank and we (a few™) were left with a different feeling.

I'm not saying you shouldn't play it - some ppl clearly likes it...

[DyNaMiX]

There are twice as many people playing Civ 5 and twice as many as that playing Civ 6. The all time peak player count of Civ 6 is DOUBLE that of Civ 7. That is a blatant flop. Especially when you consider that Civ 5 is so much older and has a sequel.

There are older games still selling well today. I doubt Civ 7 will be selling that will in a few years time. But none of that matters. Those other games are competing for time, that's it. The other civilization games are its own competition. And it lost.

[Exemplar]

Originally posted by Martin:

Originally posted by Mountain Man:

https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/2025-best-selling-games/2900-6281/#:~:text=2025's%20best-sellers&text=It%20only%20trails%20the%20current,Wilds%20and%20Assassin's%20Creed%3A%20Shadows.

So much for claims that it's a flop. :104:

7k online.
It's a flop.
But I still play once in a while.

By comparison Civ 6 25k online.

Yes, pretty much this.

However many units sold, great job, looks great on the devs' resumes and to the shareholders.

But over however many hundreds of thousands (millions) including free copies given as promotions with physical products, only 7k online playing it? maybe 9k at a peak for a day?

What's that tell you? I will tell you what it tells me...

"We dumped a below average product on our consumers mostly by name recognition, and before they had an opportunity to realize how vapid it was, returns were past the first 2 hours"

So, great job with getting full credit for a product that demonstrably few people use. Way to go. Freakin wonderful. Where do I put the medal.

[Fleetwood]

Originally posted by Exemplar:

Originally posted by Martin:

7k online.
It's a flop.
But I still play once in a while.

By comparison Civ 6 25k online.

Yes, pretty much this.

However many units sold, great job, looks great on the devs' resumes and to the shareholders.

But over however many hundreds of thousands (millions) including free copies given as promotions with physical products, only 7k online playing it? maybe 9k at a peak for a day?

What's that tell you? I will tell you what it tells me...

"We dumped a below average product on our consumers mostly by name recognition, and before they had an opportunity to realize how vapid it was, returns were past the first 2 hours"

So, great job with getting full credit for a product that demonstrably few people use. Way to go. Freakin wonderful. Where do I put the medal.

Interesting that you say that since according to his profile the OP hasn't even played the game this month. When one of the game's biggest defenders doesn't even play it...sheesh, it must be amazing.

But hey, there might not be anyone playing it but at least Firaxis made some money. That's something we can all celebrate. Yay! 🥳

[Exemplar]

Yeh, to be honest I took another shot at it in good faith last week and I honestly cannot bring myself to open the game this week. I scan over desktop icons like "what will I do to pass 2 or 3 hours" and I look at civ 7 and want to click it, but I just can't. My brain doesn't even want to look at it anymore.

I ended up playing Millennia, but now it's crashing on me since the last update. meh. I save on the 5s, like turns 10 15 20 25 etc so I don't lose much, but having to reopen the game every time is putting me in a position I don't have time for it either.

edit: 2 of the better devs on millennia left some time ago to return to HOI4. I am imagining it may have something to do with the lack of crash fixes. might be ded gaem.