Nintendo has had its fair share of bold marketing strategies over the years, but it's also a fan of just releasing a game or product and letting it speak for itself. While Nintendo didn't quite have a hands-off approach for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's marketing, it did let its core premise take the spotlight, and that's a move that Civilization 7 might want to borrow.
Announced to now be in full development, Firaxis is currently working on Civilization 7, and the developer has quite the task ahead of itself. While it admittedly felt a little too samey to prior entries, Civilization 6 still ended up being arguably the most complete entry in franchise history, with over 70 world leaders and more playable nations than fans could shake a stick at. Civilization 7 is going to need to go above and beyond to stand out from its predecessor's shadow, and the best way to do that might be by adopting Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's core marketing strategy.
Civilization 7 Should Borrow Smash Bros. Ultimate's "Everyone's Here" Approach
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was truly "ultimate" in every sense of the word, and Nintendo's marketing both before and after the game's launch put this front and center. When it launched, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate featured a whopping total of 69 unique playable characters, including every single fighter from franchise history. Smash Bros. Ultimate also included well over 90 individual stages on its initial launch, again stretching from across every entry in the series. Along with a packed roster, and an extensive stage count, Smash Bros. Ultimate boasted its own lengthy story mode as well, making it truly the most complete entry in the entire franchise.
Civilization 7 might want to borrow this same strategy. The easiest way to make Civilization 7 stand out from its predecessors is by adding every single world leader and nation from the franchise's 30-year-long history, alongside every unique mode and scenario that came along with them. In doing this, Civilization 7 would immediately feel like the most complete entry in the franchise, but doing this also poses a few potential issues.
Civilization 6, on launch, had 20 individual world leaders to play as. This number only continued to grow exponentially with Civilization 6's numerous DLC packs, eventually bringing the total to almost 80 separate leaders, and over 50 different civilizations. Putting all of these leaders in Civilization 7 from the get-go would probably be a massive undertaking for Firaxis, and though it's a talented developer, it might simply not have enough time to bring forward all of these playable characters.
Even if Firaxis could pull it off, it would be very unlikely that each civilization would end up feeling truly different from one another, and with that already being a common complaint for the franchise, it's more important for Firaxis to focus on making each of its playable characters feel unique. Another big potential issue with Civilization 7 adopting Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's "everyone's here" strategy is that it could easily end up overwhelming brand-new players.
While the Civilization franchise has been around for over three decades now, and it's amassed quite the following, there's always room for new players to hop on board with a new release, and that's presumably something Firaxis wants with Civilization 7. The Civilization franchise can already be a little tough to get into for newcomers, especially those who aren't used to the strategy genre, and the appearance of over 70 leaders right from the get-go could easily be enough to put new players off. That being said, if Firaxis could somehow manage to bring forward all of the series' past leaders, make each one feel unique, and keep it from being too overwhelming, it could easily end up being the greatest entry in the franchise to date.
Civilization 7 is in development.