Civilization 7's new patch temporarily disables crossplay between PC and console so Firaxis can 'expedite updates to the PC'

pcgamer.com:

A new update for Civilization 7 aims to address «some player feedback» from the advanced access release of the game, and promises «larger, more substantive updates» on the way in the future.

Civilization 7 doesn't fully launch until February 11, but it's been available since February 6 for players who ponied up for the Founders Edition, and the reception has been a little rocky. It's climbed from a «mostly negative» initial user rating on Steam to «mixed,» but it's still virtually a 50/50 mix of positive and negative reviews, driven largely by complaints about the game's UI.

Today's update fixes a number of interface-related problems, along with numerous bugs and gameplay issues. Notably, it also disables crossplay between PC and consoles for multiplayer, in order to «expedite updates to the PC.» Developers can shove game updates for PC out the door as fast as they can make them, but on consoles they have to pass a certification process first, and that can slow things down. It's been an issue for games from Battlefield 3 to Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and it leaves Firaxis with two choices: Hold the PC patches until the console updates get the green light, or hive them off until everything is properly smoothed out. Crossplay between Xbox and PlayStation consoles will continue to operate as normal.

The response to the patch seems generally positive so far: There are complaints about specific ongoing issues in the replies to the announcement on Steam, but there's also happiness that Firaxis seems to be on top of things. The studio said last week that it «will support Civilization 7 for years to come,» which comes as no surprise given that Civ is one of Take-Two's biggest and most reliable game series, with an extremely long tail: Tens of thousands of people are currently playing prior games in the series, and even Civilization 3, the oldest Civ game on Steam, right now has a concurrent player count of nearly 2,000. There is precisely zero chance that Firaxis and 2K