Civilization 7 removes one of Civ 6’s most annoying features

Civilization 7, which is due to get a huge new trailer at GamesCom, will not have one of Civilization 6’s most annoying features, and neither will Civ 6 anymore.

Regardless of whether you own Civ 6 on Steam or the Epic Games Store, you will be familiar with the infamous 2K launcher. When you click “play” on Civ 6, instead of immediately loading into the game, the 2K launcher would pop up instead, requiring you to click “play” a second time, and eating up precious processing power while in-game.

However, a Firaxis community manager has confirmed on Reddit that Civilization 7 will not use the 2K launcher at all and they have now removed the launcher from the Steam version of the game, with plans afoot to remove it from Epic Games Store as well.

“Hey all! I wanted to provide a quick update,” said the post on Reddit. “Earlier today, the 2K launcher was removed from Civ 6 on Steam, and there are plans to remove it on Epic in the near future. I’m also confirming that Civ 7 will NOT utilize the 2K Launcher. Thanks for your patience and ongoing feedback!”

2K Launcher has been removed from Civ 6 and will not be implemented for Civ 7
byu/sar_firaxis inciv

The response to this news has been overwhelmingly positive from community members and fans of the series.

The top comment on the Reddit announcement has nearly two thousand upvotes and says “Thank goodness. I am very tired of having half a dozen launchers on my computer in addition to Steam. I just feel like that crap running in the background doesn’t do my computer any favors while I’m trying to play a game. I need the tiny waves on the shores of my nation to be in 4K dammit.”

It has been a big week for Civ fans. First, this news drops, and then Take-Two Interactive Software (parent company of 2K, who publish the Civilization games) released its earnings report for the first fiscal quarter of 2025, which gives a strong indication of the Civ 7 release window.

While no official date has been announced yet, the earnings report suggests that Civilization 7 will be released in the first quarter of 2025, so between January and March. We expect that we will get confirmation of this at GamesCom, where Civ will have an opening night showcase.

Featured image credit: 2K/Firaxis

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