Firaxis celebrates Civilization 7's launch with the Civ World Summit, a live streamed five-way strategy showdown with 'an exciting announcement' planned
We're weeks away from the launch of Civilization VII, officially PC Gamer's Most Wanted game of 2025. We all intend to celebrate the game's release in our own way. Personally, I'm thinking about conquering a small nation. Luxembourg perhaps, or possibly Andorra.
Firaxis' own plans for marking the occasion are less megalomaniacal, though conquest will likely still feature heavily. On February 8, the studio will host the Civ World Summit—a live Civilization VII tournament that will be streamed online.
Announced on the Civilization website, the Civ world summit will be hosted at the Xperion gaming zone in Hamburg, and involve a multiplayer showdown in Civilization VII between "five prominent members of the Civ community". Firaxis doesn't explain who these prominent community members are, but does specify who will be hosting it—namely Firaxis' community manager Sarah Engel and "famed Civ creator" PotatoMcWhiskey, in partnership with Rocket Beans TV (there's a collection of nouns for you).
For viewers on Twitch, Firaxis has arranged a Twitch drop to "commemorate" the event, in the form of a 'cavalry charge banner' cosmetic for players' in-game profiles. This can be earned by "watching the Firaxis Games channel or one of the partnered channels". Apparently, Firaxis also has "an exciting announcement" planned for the livestream. I haven't the slightest idea what this could be. It seems a tad early to reveal Civilization VIII, so perhaps it relates to post-launch plans for Civ VII.
Firaxis will provide more information about the Civ World Summit in the "upcoming weeks", though I doubt we'll have to wait too long since we're only three weeks out from the event itself. In any case, if you're in or around Hamburg and you fancy attending the event in person, tickets can be purchased here for the princely sum of five Euros. Otherwise, the event can be viewed on the Firaxis Games Twitch Channel, the Civilization YouTube Channel, or the Civilization Facebook page.
Civilization VII launches three days after the event on February11. Early impressions on Firaxis' latest alt-history generator suggest a pretty transformative entry. Robert Zak recently played 20 hours of it, and described its age transitions as "the series' most radical and disruptive mechanic yet".