SLOW AND STEADY DEVELOPMENT ELIMINATES FLOPS
In 27 years, there have only been six mainline Civilization releases. That is a glacial pace for a successful intellectual property. In that same time, we’ve received six Star Wars movies (seven if you count the animated one, but nobody will blame you if you don’t) despite a total dearth of content for large chunks of years. And as for a video game comparison, look no further than Assassin’s Creed. Ubisoft has pumped out 10 (10!) full-length games in 11 years, in addition to a decent collection of spin-off titles and downloadable content.
Civilization VI was released in 2016. Before that, Civilization V was released in 2010. Civ IV came out in 2005. While that might seem somewhat of a pedantic thing to emphasize, it is an underrated part of the series’ success. Players don’t get Civilization fatigue. Rather, they are supplied with a robust core game and given opportunities to expand their experience should they wish. It’s an admirable business model that respects the player and acknowledges that developing games is an expensive, difficult process.
Many games nowadays that don’t do well, even in well-respected franchises like Mass Effect. The most recent release, Mass Effect Andromeda, suffered poorer-than-expected sales and went through a strenuous and troubled development. While it certainly helps that Civilization has a more focused development cycle than creating a brand new IP or reviving an old one, plenty of sequels suffer from aggressive deadlines. A Civilization game is finished when it’s finished.
