Hey, Civ fans! Welcome back to This Month in Civ!

Last month, as part of the Civilization franchise’s 35th anniversary celebrations, we made some of our biggest announcements to date. We revealed Arc of Tomorrow, a major free* update that will introduce the Atomic Age, new civs and leaders, and new mechanics, including nuclear proliferation and proxy warfare. We also unveiled Earthrise, our first paid expansion, which will introduce even more new civs and leaders, alongside new gameplay features focused on environmental adaptability and launching space missions to enrich your civ back on Earth. For a refresher on what’s coming when these both launch in 2027, check out this announce video.

October has been a quieter month, as we go heads-down on these new updates to make sure we stick the landing. But we haven’t gone completely dark! You can still expect to see new content from us while Arc of Tomorrow and Earthrise are in the oven. We’ll have more to show to that end soon, so stay tuned.

*Base game required. This content is free for all owners of Civilization VII. Terms apply.

Firaxis Feature Workshop Kicks Off Soon!

A big thank you to everyone who has applied to playtest Arc of Tomorrow and Earthrise in the Firaxis Feature Workshop! If you’ve been selected to participate, you’ll have received an email from the team with more details. While we’re not ready to share exactly what content we’ll be testing in the Workshop just yet, we’ll have some teases for our larger community when the Workshop begins. We’re excited to get the program going and get some of our newest features into the hands of Workshoppers.

Civ VI’s 10th Anniversary + LoFi Music Release

October 21, 2026 marked a huge milestone for Civilization VI as the title turned 10 years old! To celebrate this anniversary, we released special Lo-Fi versions of some of the most iconic Civ VI themes, including Arabia, Greece, Brazil, and many others. You can listen to the full album here! If you want to read about the origins, inspiration, and process for these songs, check out our interview with Firaxis Sound Designer, Dmytro Nebesh, where we break down how this project came to life.

For our collectors out there, we’re also partnering with our friends at Laced Records to bring you the Civ VI soundtrack on vinyl. The Exclusive Edition Deluxe 4LP Boxset will be available for pre-order in January 2027.

Civilization: The Oral History by Polygon

Firaxis recently hosted Polygon at our studio in Maryland to talk about the history of Civilization. From the foundational days of the franchise in 1991—when Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley programmed the first Civ  on a 640K IBM computer—to present day, where Civ VII gets ready to go to space with Earthrise, join Sid Meier, Ed Beach, and other Firaxians as we walk through this 35-year-long journey.

You can read Polygon’s article on their website, or watch their mini-documentary on YouTube!

Heading into the winter, we’ll be locking in as we put nose to grindstone on Arc of Tomorrow and Earthrise. However, we still have some surprises en route before the end of the year, so keep your eyes peeled! 

To stay connected, join us in our Official Discord, where you can keep up with the community and discuss every new update, new and forthcoming content, and all your other Civ favorites! For more info about guides, feature requests, mods, and more, check out our Steam discussions. And to stay up-to-date on all things Civ, be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

See you here next month, Civ fans!