Firaxis celebrates Civilization 7's launch with the Civ World Summit, a live streamed five-way strategy showdown with 'an exciting announcement' planned

Image for Firaxis celebrates Civilization 7's launch with the Civ World Summit, a live streamed five-way strategy showdown with 'an exciting announcement' planned

(Image credit: Firaxis)

We're weeks away from the launch of Civilization 7, 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 7 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 7 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 7.

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.

Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.