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.TheCivilizationseries has had plenty of time to grow. Debuting in 1991, it’s lasted 34 years and counting. In that time, seven mainline games have enjoyed their time in the limelight, as well as a multitude of spin-offs.
But which Civilization game has the most civs? And what’s the deal with the ones that have more leaders than civs? We’re tackling those queries right here. Join us for a blitz through history - fitting stuff for Civilization - as we regale you with a bunch of numbers on our quest to determine the answer. Oh, and in case it needs to be said, we’re focusing on the mainline games only!
Civilization
The originalCivilization, released in September 1991, sported14 civs. It’s not much, but the game kickstarted the entire series, so in a way, it was all rather risky. There are only a handful of colors, soyou’ll see multiple civs with the same color schemein your games unless you’re only playing with a couple of opponents.
Civilization II
Civilization IIlaunched inMarch 1996. Back in those days,five years between installments in a video games series was far from the norm, but the developers clearly wanted time to get things right.
The result was a substantial improvement over the original - the added seven civs for a total of21is hardly the only thing that improved between entries.
Civilization III
Thelengthy interim periods between titlesclearly became a mainstay, asCivilization IIIdidn’t launch until the end ofOctober 2001. But with Civ 3, the studio’s now-standard vision began to take shape:the game added two expansionsover the next couple of years.
These expansionsadded further civilizationsto the “vanilla” version’s count, bringing things up to31civs in full.
Civilization IV
Civilization IVwas atremendous step upfrom its predecessor when it took the stage inOctober 2005.Both expansionsrevamped key mechanics across the board while adding more civs. Furthermore,some civs had more than one leader available.
Not only did Civ 4 take the civ count up a few more notches by the end of its lifecycle, from 31 to34, but toss in the52 leaders, andyou have a ton of replay value.
Civilization V
WithCivilization VinSeptember 2010, the devs went back to basics,removing the multiple-leader aspect. That’s not to say Civ 5 was a stripped-down game ingeneral. Whilethere are some vets who still prefer Civ 4,there are enough Civ 5 diehards to this day that plenty of folks are still playing it any given time.
The number of civs jumped up to43by the timethe two expansionshad released. It’s worth noting, too, thatCiv 5 is the origin of Civilization’s city-state mechanic, whichkind ofcounts for the purposes of our article.Sort of.
Civilization VI
Few among us could have anticipatedCivilization VI’s incredibly robust post-launch support. The game made its debut inOctober 2016, bumping those four-to-five-year hiatuses between mainline releases to six.
Not only did it receivethe customary two expansions, but Civ 6 eventually got theNew Frontier Passin 2020, and finally, theLeader Passin 2022. The sheer magnitude of content Civ 6 enjoyed by the end of its tenure prompted one heck of an achievement:50 civsand67 leaders.
Civilization VII
The latest entry in the Civilization franchise left Civilization VI as the most recent title for over eight years - little wonder Firaxis opted to keep the ball rolling for so long.
February 2025marked the beginning of thissurprisingly experimentalentry; Civilization VII uproots far more of the long-running formula than any prior chapter. With the introduction of theAges mechanic,players will maintain the leader they’ve chosen at the start of the game, but shift civilizations twiceby the end.
Needless to say, Civ 7 has far more civs than leaders, despite maintaining the multiple-leader concept from 4 and 6. Also,we only have a sliver of what Civilization VII will ultimately receive,as it’slaunched quite recentlyas of this writing. It’s anyone’s guess where the final tally will land, but right now, we’re dealing with31 civs and 26 leaders.
Winner: Civilization VI
With50 civilizations to sift through and an incredible 67 leaders, Civilization VItakes home the grand prize… for now.
We’d be hard-pressed to believe you if you popped in from the future and told us Civilization VII will have more than67 leadersby the end - given how that game operates - it does seem feasible for Civ 7 to break past 50 civs at some point. We’ll see!
