--- description: How Sid Meier's Civilization 6, the latest installment in the long-running historical strategy series, is going to evolve the beloved game. title: Here's When Sid Meier's Civilization 6 Is Coming Out image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09fd4eec927d6897/6988929d196cf4a59003b8ba/civilizationvi_screenshot_announce1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Sid Meier's Civilization 6_ Is Coming to PC This October ## Video: CIVILIZATION VI: Official Announcement Trailer [Watch (HLS stream): CIVILIZATION VI: Official Announcement Trailer](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/iCaup1oG.m3u8) (1:44)  _Published 2016-05-11. 'Sid Meier's Civilization 6' is coming to PC this October._ by [Matt Peckham](/author/matt-peckham/) ## Matt Peckham Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 11, 2016 3:15 PM CUT  Firaxis / 2K Games by [Matt Peckham](/author/matt-peckham/) ## Matt Peckham Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 11, 2016 3:15 PM CUT A new _Civilization_ strategy game is in the works by long-time developer Firaxis. Surprisingly, the unveiling of _Sid Meier’s Civilization VI_ isn’t some nebulous teaser for a game players won’t get for another five years: The $60 title is coming out October 21, in just five short months. _Sid Meier’s Civilization VI_ doesn’t seem like it’s out to rock the boat. It will still fundamentally be a hex-based, turn-driven, history-themed strategy game. It will, once again, allow gamers to play as a famous leader (in opposition to various others) and take a stab at building an empire. They will do so through diplomacy, research and—depending on a player’s diplomatic proclivities—interacting with other civilizations by way of olive branch or sword. What’s new seems centered on the way the game handles cities, whose municipal features can now spread across multiple tiles (creating, presumably, scenarios in which parts of a city could become contested). But the studio’s also highlighting significant changes to other long-standing systems. Players can now unlock boosts to speed up research. Diplomatic options now evolve in tandem with the evolutionary status of a civilization. And unit stacking, which was possible in earlier iterations of the series, is back, sort of. You can merge complementary units (say anti-tank support with infantry) in _Civilization VI_ to form more powerful combinations. The only downside? Like Firaxis’ acclaimed sci-fi strategy game _XCOM 2_, released last February, _Civilization VI_ is for PC only. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4324377/civilization-6/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4324377/civilization-6/"},"headline":"Sid Meier's Civilization 6 Is Coming to PC This October","datePublished":"2016-05-11T15:15:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:49:58.201Z","description":"The latest installment in the grand historical strategy series puts an emphasis on cities","url":"https://time.com/4324377/civilization-6/","keywords":["Tech","Video Games"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09fd4eec927d6897/6988929d196cf4a59003b8ba/civilizationvi_screenshot_announce1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt Peckham","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/matt-peckham/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09fd4eec927d6897/6988929d196cf4a59003b8ba/civilizationvi_screenshot_announce1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CivilizationVI_screenshot_announce1","caption":"","creditText":"Firaxis / 2K Games","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4324377/civilization-6/","name":"Sid Meier's Civilization 6 Is Coming to PC This October"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"CIVILIZATION VI: Official Announcement Trailer","description":"'Sid Meier's Civilization 6' is coming to PC this October.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/iCaup1oG/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-05-11T15:47:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/iCaup1oG.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4324377/civilization-6/","duration":"PT1M44S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4324377/civilization-6/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```