Civpedia

Release timeline

2027
Arc of Tomorrow and Earthrise Coming Firaxis has announced a free update with a fourth Age, the Atomic Age, and the first paid expansion, Earthrise, both for 2027.
Nov 10, 2026
Civilization 7 Update 1.5.1 Latest The newest update adds Liberation, a Unit List, Map Search and two maps; Firaxis says patches slow while it builds Arc of Tomorrow.
May 19, 2026
Civilization 7: Test of Time The free Update 1.4.0 lets players keep one civilization for the whole game, replaces Legacy Paths with Triumphs and redesigns victories.
Feb 11, 2025
Civilization 7 The seventh game comes out on PC and consoles, 3,036 days after Civilization 6, with three Ages and leaders separate from civilizations.
Oct 21, 2016
Civilization 6 Ed Beach's Civilization 6 spreads cities across the map in districts and splits research into two trees.

6 earlier releases

Sep 21, 2010
Civilization 5 Jon Shafer's Civilization 5 moves the series to hexes and one unit per tile, and adds city-states.
Jul 23, 2007
Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword The second Civilization 4 expansion adds corporations, espionage, random events and a rebuilt AI. Civpedia's editors still play it.
Oct 25, 2005
Civilization 4 Soren Johnson's Civilization 4 ships in North America with religions, civics and Great People; Europe follows on Nov 4.
Oct 30, 2001
Civilization 3 Firaxis's first numbered Civilization adds culture and borders, strategic and luxury resources, and unique units.
Feb 29, 1996
Civilization 2 Brian Reynolds's sequel brings the isometric view, hit points and firepower, and a map editor.
Sep 1991
Civilization MicroProse releases Sid Meier's Civilization, designed by Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley, for the IBM PC.

Civpedia covers Sid Meier's Civilization series as it is now: Civilization 7's newest update, prices, roster and Ages, each mainline game from 1991 to 2025 with what it introduced and whether it can still be bought, comparison pages that set the games side by side feature by feature, a ranking by a stated rule, Steam player counts we read ourselves, and predictions we mark right or wrong when they resolve. Its editors still play Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword and say so.

0:00 Civilization 7 is 642 days old and on Update 1.5.1, released Nov 10, 2026, and it is still the third most played Civilization game on Steam: at 11:15 PM Dubai time on Nov 15, 2026 Steam counted 30,281 people in Civilization 6, 18,764 in Civilization 5 and 11,248 in Civilization 7. Firaxis answers in 2027 with a free update that adds a fourth Age and with the game's first paid expansion (Firaxis on Steam, Sep 5, 2026). This is the game's gameplay reveal trailer on the Sid Meier's Civilization channel.

Civpedia is an encyclopedia of Sid Meier's Civilization series: seven mainline games in 35 years, each with a new lead idea, and no agreement among players about which one is best. We think it is still Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword, a game from 2007 that our editors play today, and we say why on Civilization 4. The rule-based ranking, the side-by-side comparisons and the live numbers are here so you can disagree with us from the same facts.

Live this week

Read on Nov 15, 2026:

The newest game: Civilization 7 costs $69.99 on Steam, its launch price, and 51% of its 30,153 English-language Steam reviews are positive. Our rule puts it in C tier at 65.0.
The newest update: 1.5.1 added Liberation, a Unit List, Map Search and two maps. It is the 16th numbered update since launch, and Civilization 7 Updates lists every one with its date.
What changed most: since the Test of Time update of May 19, 2026 you can keep one civilization for a whole game, which Civilization 7 Ages explains.
The roster: 50 civilizations and 33 leaders by our count of 2K's own guides, 37% of them paid, each listed with its Age and where it comes from on Civilization 7 Civilizations and Leaders. Every edition and pack is priced on Civilization 7 DLC and Editions.
What is next: Arc of Tomorrow, the free update with the Atomic Age, and Earthrise, the first paid expansion, are both announced for 2027 with no day yet.
The cheapest way in: until Nov 19, 2026 Civilization 4: The Complete Edition is $5.99 on Steam and Civilization 3 Complete is $0.99, both 80% off.
What you cannot buy: no store sells Civilization 1 or Civilization 2 new; Steam's and GOG's catalogs of the main series start at Civilization 3.

Our numbers

These are figures we worked out or read ourselves, each shown with its method on its page:

Mainline games	7, from September 1991 to Feb 11, 2025, an average of 5.6 years apart (Civilization Games in Order)
Longest wait	3,036 days from Civilization 6 to Civilization 7
Best by our rule	Civilization 4, 93.0 from its Metascore of 94 and 92% on Steam (Civilization Games Ranked)
Most played on Steam	Civilization 6, 45.9% of the 65,931 people in seven Civilization games at one reading (Civilization Steam Player Counts)
Civilization 6 to Civilization 7	2.7 players to 1 at that reading, 3.5 to 1 over 30 days
Everything for Civilization 7	$199.49 on Steam, against $98.70 for all of Civilization 6 (Civilization 7 vs Civilization 6)
Firsts	39 features the six sequels introduced, 8 of them in Civilization 7 (Civilization Games Compared)
Series sales	Over 80 million units, per Take-Two's November 2026 investor deck (Civilization History)

Every game, and what it changed

Each mainline game has one page here: what it introduced, what it dropped, who designed it, and what a player can do with it today.

Game	Year	Its big change	Our tier
Civilization 1	1991	The tech tree, wonders, city tiles and two ways to win	Unscored
Civilization 2	1996	Isometric view, hit points and firepower, scenarios	B
Civilization 3	2001	Culture and borders, strategic resources, unique units	A
Civilization 4	2005	Religion, civics, Great People, a 3D world built for mods	S
Civilization 5	2010	Hexes, one unit per tile, city-states	A
Civilization 6	2016	Districts, two research trees, builders with charges	B
Civilization 7	2025	Three Ages, leaders separate from civilizations, Commanders	C

The tiers follow one rule, the average of a game's PC Metascore and the share of its Steam reviews that are positive, which the ranking page states in full. The 1991 game has no published score to rank it on, which is not our view of it. The related games, from Colonization and Alpha Centauri to Beyond Earth, are on Civilization Spin-Offs.

How the games differ

0:00 Every Civilization keeps the same promise, one more turn from the Stone Age to the space race, and each new lead designer rebuilt a third of it. Those rebuilds are why players split into camps, and they are what our comparison pages set side by side. This is Firaxis's own look back at Civilization 4.

Civilization Games Compared puts all seven games in one table, feature by feature: the grid, how units stack, how cities use land, religion, government, victories and more.
Civilization 7 vs Civilization 6 is the question most buyers have now. Our verdict: Civilization 6 is still the one to buy, and Civilization 7 is the one to watch.
Civilization 4 vs Civilization 5 is the series' biggest break, stacks on squares against one unit per tile on hexes, argued from what Soren Johnson and Jon Shafer wrote about their own designs.

Why we still play Civilization 4

We think Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword is the best Civilization game, and not out of nostalgia. Its systems push against each other: religion and civics change what a city is for, the commerce slider makes every turn a budget, stacks with siege and collateral damage make war a matter of preparation, and the AI on the higher difficulties uses all of it well enough to beat you. Its mods, Realism Invictus and Caveman2Cosmos among them, are still being updated 21 years after the base game. The newer games do things it cannot: Civilization 5 and 6 are easier to read and to mod with one click, and Civilization 6 has several times its players. Our case, and where it differs from the scores, is on Civilization 4, and our 50-page Civilization 4 viki at civ4.vi.ki goes into every system.

What we think comes next

We think Civilization 7 stays Mixed on Steam through June 2027 even with a fourth Age, and that the Atomic Age update ships as Update 1.6.0, not 2.0. Each prediction on Predictions says what it rests on and the month it can be checked, and a miss stays on the page.

Sources

Moments

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII - Gameplay Reveal Trailer

Sid Meier's Civilization

0:00 Civilization 7 is 642 days old and on Update 1.5.1, released Nov 10, 2026, and it is still the third most played…

A Look Back at Civilization IV (2005)

Firaxis Games

0:00 Every Civilization keeps the same promise, one more turn from the Stone Age to the space race, and each new lead…

Pages

Civilization 7

Civilization 7 Ages
We rate Civilization 7's Ages A tier on Nov 15, 2026. Firaxis has answered 8 of the 10 launch complaints we count. Since Test of Time (May 19, 2026) you can keep one civilization through Antiquity, Exploration and Modern, and Triumphs replaced Legacy Paths. A fourth Age, the Atomic Age, is announced for 2027.
Civilization 7 Civilizations and Leaders
Civilization 7 has 50 civilizations and 33 leaders on Nov 15, 2026. 30 civilizations and 22 leaders cost nothing beyond the base game; 20 civilizations and 11 leaders are paid DLC, 37% of the roster. The newest are Elizabeth I, George Washington, Babylon, the Gauls and England (Sep 15, 2026).
Civilization 7 DLC and Editions
On Steam in the US on Nov 15, 2026, Civilization 7 costs $69.99 (Standard), $99.99 (Deluxe) or $119.52 (Settler's Edition); four DLC collections are $29.99 each and Hall of History is $19.99. Everything costs $199.49 the cheapest way. We rate the Standard Edition S and the $29.99 collections C.
Civilization 7 Updates
Update 1.5.1 (Nov 10, 2026) is live in Civilization 7 and adds Liberation, a Unit List, Map Search, two map types and a Great People rework. It is the 16th numbered update in 637 days, one every 39.8 days on average, and the next big one, Arc of Tomorrow, is due in 2027.

Comparisons

Civilization 4 vs Civilization 5
We think Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword is the better game and Civilization 5 the better place to find other players. On Nov 15, 2026 Civilization 5 had 18,916 players on Steam to Beyond the Sword's 2,172, and all of Civilization 4 cost $5.99 on sale against $16.80 for all of Civilization 5.
Civilization 7 vs Civilization 6
Buy Civilization 6 today unless you want Ages or a console-first design. On Nov 15, 2026 it had 30,571 players on Steam to Civilization 7's 11,230, 85% positive reviews to 51%, a Metacritic score of 88 to 79, and its complete Anthology cost $98.70 against $199.49 for all of Civilization 7.
Civilization Games Compared
Play Civilization 7 for the newest ideas (update 1.5.1, Nov 10, 2026), Civilization 6 for the biggest crowd (30,571 on Steam on Nov 15, 2026) and Civilization 4 for the deepest challenge. One table sets all seven games side by side, and we count 39 firsts across the six sequels.

Games

Civilization 1
The 1991 Civilization is not sold on any store on Nov 15, 2026, 35 years after its release, though it sold more than 1.5 million copies. No critic score or Steam review share exists for it, so our rule cannot score it and it is D tier by default, which is not our view of the game.
Civilization 2
Civilization 2 is not sold on Steam, GOG or any other store on Nov 15, 2026, 30 years after its Feb 29, 1996 release. Its Metascore of 94 is the highest of the first three games, and we rate it B tier at 89.5, the average of that 94 and its Metacritic user score of 8.5.
Civilization 3
Civilization 3 Complete costs $0.99 on Steam until Nov 19, 2026 and $1.19 on GOG, and 2,151 people were playing it on Steam on the evening of Nov 15, 2026, 25 years after its release. We rate it A tier at 90.5, the average of its Metascore of 90 and its 91% on Steam, and we still think Civilization 4 is the better game.
Civilization 4
Civilization 4 with every expansion costs $5.99 on Steam and on GOG on Nov 15, 2026 (80% off), and 2,172 people were playing Beyond the Sword on Steam when we read the count, 21 years after release. We rate it S tier at 93.0, first of the seven games, and we think Civilization 4, Beyond the Sword is still the best Civilization game.
Civilization 5
Civilization 5 is $7.49 on Steam on Nov 15, 2026 (75% off) and $16.80 complete with both expansions, and 18,916 people were playing it on Steam when we read the count, 16 years after release and more than Civilization 7 had. We rate it A tier at 92.5, half a point under S.
Civilization 6
Civilization 6 had 30,571 players on Steam when we read the count on Nov 15, 2026, 2.7 times Civilization 7's 11,260, ten years after release. It is back at its full $59.99 since a sale ended Nov 4, and got a Windows security hotfix on Nov 5. We rate it B tier at 86.5.
Civilization 7
Civilization 7 is on Update 1.5.1 (Nov 10, 2026), costs $69.99 on Steam with 51% positive reviews, and had 11,230 people in game when we read Steam on Nov 15, 2026. We rate it C tier at 65.0, the bottom of C, and a free fourth Age, the Atomic Age, is due in 2027.

Overview

Civpedia
Civilization 7 is on Update 1.5.1 (Nov 10, 2026) with a free fourth Age and its first expansion due in 2027, yet Civilization 6 and Civilization 5 still have more players on Steam. Civpedia covers every Civilization game from 1991 to today, how each one differs, our ranking and our predictions.
Predictions
We think Civilization 7 stays Mixed on Steam through June 2027 and that its Atomic Age update ships as Update 1.6.0, not 2.0. Civpedia's own predictions for the Civilization series, each with the date it can be checked by.

Series

Civilization Games in Order
There are 7 mainline Civilization games, from Sid Meier's Civilization (September 1991) to Civilization 7 (Feb 11, 2025). The gaps between them average 5.6 years by our count, and the last one was the longest at 8.3 years.
Civilization Games Ranked
Civilization 4 is the best Civilization game by our rule, at 93.0 from its 94 on Metacritic and its 92% on Steam, read Nov 15, 2026. Civilization 5 is half a point behind, Civilization 7 is sixth at 65.0, and we think Civilization 4 with Beyond the Sword is the best of all.
Civilization History
Civilization turned 35 in Sep 2026. Seven numbered games, four owners, and a franchise that Take-Two's Nov 2026 investor deck says has sold over 80 million units; the newest dated fact is Civilization 7 update 1.5.1 on Nov 10, 2026.
Civilization Spin-Offs
Nine Civilization spin-off products can be bought on Nov 15, 2026, and the six PC games plus one expansion cost $50.33 together at each one's cheaper store. Alpha Centauri is our only S tier; Beyond Earth, $9.99 on Steam, had 435 players that night.
Civilization Steam Player Counts
Civilization 6 is the most played Civilization on Steam, with 30,281 players at 23:15 Dubai time on Nov 15, 2026, against 18,764 in Civilization 5 and 11,248 in Civilization 7. Civilization 6 has 2.7 times Civilization 7's players, and the seven games together have 65,931.