In February, Civilization VII released to what feels like (the internet wasn't around in the 90s!) the worst reception in series history, its major new features dividing fans and distancing the game from what many have long loved about it. Now, even as the team at Firaxis work to update the game, many of them are being laid off.
After a number of former Firaxis staff like artists, writers and producers, predominantly from the Civ VII team, began posting earlier today that they'd been let go, 2K confirmed with Game Developer that there had been a "staff reduction today at Firaxis Games", with the site estimating that "dozens of workers have been impacted by the cuts".
Using absolutely meaningless filler words as cover for the move, 2K said the layoffs were part of an effort to increase "adaptability, collaboration, and creativity" at Firaxis, none of which sound like they can be boosted by laying off dozens of the people who worked there.
As I said in my Civ VII review, its development sounded like a mess, which would be a strategic misstep made at levels far above those affected today by layoffs:
It's clear something has gone very wrong during the game's development. There are now multiple examples, both from early demos in 2024 and hidden in the final game's code, of Civ VII once having an almost entirely different interface. For that aspect of the game to have been overhauled so close to release sure would explain why things look so bland and rushed--one of my earliest notes from playing this was "looks like an iPad version of Civ V"--and why the interface was the first thing Firaxis have said they'd be fixing, because what if they're not really fixing it at all, but just...finishing it.
The game sold well, however, reportedly breaking pre-order records for the series. In May, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said he had been "thrilled with Civ 7 so far", with the game currently sitting in the top 10 best-selling games of 2025 list. And in a statement issued to PC Gamer, 2K and Firaxis say they "continue to work hard on title updates and patches" for Civ VII, "to ensure it aligns with the needs of our players".
But this is the industry as it operates in 2025 (especially at Take-Two); it's hard imagining an alternate timeline where the game broke both critical and sales records and there still weren’t some kind of layoffs, because that's just what happens now. That's the only lever the people in charge of these companies ever want to pull.
