However, it’s important to note that neither of those metrics gives as complete a picture as some Internet discussions suggest they do; Civilization VII launched on other platforms and game stores like the PlayStation 5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and Epic Game Store, and those wouldn’t be captured in Steam numbers—even though it intuitively seems likely that Steam would account for the significant majority of players for this particular franchise. Twitch viewership is also not necessarily representative of sales or the number of players.
It’s also difficult to know for sure whether the layoffs are tied to the game’s performance.
Just a month ago, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said that while the game had a “slow start,” he believes “Civ has always been a slow burn.” He said the projections for the “lifetime value of the title” are consistent with the company’s initial projections.
There have been numerous other examples of studios and publishers laying off staff from teams that worked on both successful and unsuccessful releases as the industry continues to roll back pandemic-era over-hiring and respond to inflation, rising borrowing costs, global economic instability, trade uncertainty, ballooning development costs, and efficiency pressures.
