In a press release, 2K Games announced that Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 is in development, headed up by Firaxis Games. The company is yet to confirm what platforms it'll be arriving on.
Heather Hazen is the new studio head of Firaxis, leading the charge in developing the next installment of the real-time strategy game, which has found a home on many Macs across the years.
Hazen noted, "I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to carry on the studio's storied legacy, beginning with the announcement that Firaxis is in development on the next iteration of the legendary Civilization franchise.
"I’m lucky to be working with some of the best developers in our industry, and we have plans to take the Civilization franchise to exciting new heights for our millions of players around the world.”
Originally debuting in 1991 on the Macintosh, Amiga, Super Nintendo and many more systems, the series became a Firaxis franchise in 2001 with Civilization III. With Apple silicon showcasing how well games can run on the M1 and M2 chips, and Civilization a huge franchise for Mac gamers, could the seventh entry be a M3 Mac hit?
A new era for the series - but what about Macs?
iMore reached out to 2K, where a 2K spokesperson responded, "We can confirm the next mainline Civilization game is in development, but are not sharing the specific title just yet. In terms of development details, etc. I’m afraid we have nothing more to share at this time."
However, there are already a bunch of videos available that show how well Civilization VI runs on an Apple silicon Mac, such as the above. Eventually released in 2016 on macOS following a PC debut, it was joined by an iPad version in 2017 and an iPhone freemium port in 2018. It's a stunning game, showcasing classical eras of Egypt, France, Russia, and more in detail, giving players a chance to rule over kingdoms any way they see fit, with great controls to boot.
With the M2 Pro chip debuting with the Mac mini and MacBook Pro models in January 2023, we can't help but wonder how Civilization 7 could look and run on an M3 Mac.
Apple has already been touting the gaming capabilities of the chips, with Resident Evil Village running impressively well on an M1 Pro chip for example thanks to native support for Apple's Metal API. So to see Firaxis flex its graphical muscles with a newer Apple silicon chip is an enticing thought.
While it's clearly early days to wonder what eras this new Civilization entry will focus on, it would be great to see better multiplayer support on Mac and iPad, alongside taking advantage of features such as SharePlay, to help one another in battling armies across the wide map.
Regardless, it's an exciting time for the franchise, and we'll be keeping track of further updates to the development of Civilization 7 over the coming months.
