Gamescom 2024: Civilization 7 gets a release date, and it’s sooner than we expected

Civilization 7 has been one of the standout games from the cosplayer-filled conference halls of Gamescom 2024. The latest in a decades-long series of genre defining 4X games looks gorgeous like an intricately crafted diorama of human history – as you can see for yourself in this new trailer – and it makes some bold departures from the old formula. Best of all, it’s releasing very soon indeed.

Developer Firaxis has deemed Gamescom the perfect moment to announce that on 11 February 2025, Civ 7 arrives on Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

It’s the longest we’ve ever had to wait between Civ games, and a lot’s happened in the genre since number 6 - most pertinently, some rather good young upstarts in the same genre such as Humankind and Millennia, each with their own creative spins on the 4X template that Civ created long ago in PC gaming’s own ancient age.

To that end, you don’t play through the whole game with the same faction and leader this time. Instead, you choose a new civilization each time you enter one of the three distinct ages of the game.

No more settling down for a nice easy victory by exploiting the same culture or science buffs for thousands of years, then.