Firaxis was brave with Civilization 7, altering the basic structure of the decades-old grand strategy series in ways that were bound to be controversial. I liked some things about Civ 7's new "Ages" system, which requires players to swap to a new civilization twice over the course of a campaign, but it hasn't been especially popular: Over a year after launch, Civ 7 is less played on Steam than either Civ 5 or Civ 6.

Despite that, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said in a recent interview with Stephen Totilo at Game File that Civilization 7 is "a profitable enterprise."

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Knowing that Midnight Suns didn't sell as well as hoped (despite also being a good game ), I've been a little nervous about the future of one of my favorite studios, so it is reassuring to hear that Civ 7 hasn't been a total disaster, despite its obvious struggle to compete with its own siblings.

I don't totally hate Civ 7's age transitions myself, but I have to admit that I haven't played much of it since launch.…