Sid Meier’s Civilization VI sets another milestone in the Civilization franchise, which has sold-in over 34 million units worldwide and changed the gaming landscape by bringing the strategy genre to unparalleled heights.

In Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, cities will physically expand across the map to create new, deep strategic layers, active research in technology and culture will unlock new potential ways to play; and the large variety of leaders will pursue their own agendas based on their historical character traits as players race to achieve victory however they choose to play.

Firaxis shared details about upcoming changes, adjustments and additions coming to Civilization VI in the December game update, which is scheduled to go live on Thursday, December 17.

In addition to balance and update changes, each game update includes a new feature, such as a scenario, game mode or customization. This month’s update includes the City-state Picker, as well as several balance adjustments and additional changes based on player feedback.

Similar to the Natural Wonder Picker introduced in August, the City-state Picker enables players to select which and how many city-states will appear in their games. Choose to play with a random selection of city-states or a custom list; the City-state Picker is a great way for players to encounter city-states they may not have played with before and provides another way to control some of the game difficulty. Want to run a game with only Science-boosting city-states to help achieve a Science victory? Or make production harder by disabling all Industrial city-states? There are plenty of ways to experiment with the new City-state Picker!

Following player feedback, some new adjustments are making their way to Civilization VI. These include a significant balance pass on Social Policies and the Tech and Civic boosts, as well as improvements to the AI. For example, AI leaders are now less likely to make demands if your military is stronger or if it is doing badly in a war; players may also be excited to find a "Stop Asking Me" button that can be used if a civ is sending a few too many demands or requests. Full details will be available in patch notes that release alongside the update on December 17.

The December game update is one of many free updates that are a part of the overall content roadmap for Civilization VI, available to anyone who owns the game.

Ahead of the release, Firaxis will be doing a community livestream at 11 a.m. PST / 2 p.m. EST / 7 p.m. GMT on Wednesday, December 16.

Key Features:

• EXPANSIVE EMPIRES: See the marvels of your empire spread across the map like never before. Each city spans multiple tiles so you can custom build your cities to take full advantage of the local terrain;
• ACTIVE RESEARCH: Unlock boosts that speed your civilization’s progress through history. To advance more quickly, use your units to actively explore, develop your environment, and discover new cultures;
• DYNAMIC DIPLOMACY: Interactions with other civilizations change over the course of the game, from primitive first interactions where conflict is a fact of life, to late game alliances and negotiations;
• COMBINED ARMS: Expanding on the “one unit per tile” design, support units can now be embedded with other units, like anti-tank support with infantry, or a warrior with settlers. Similar units can also be combined to form powerful “Corps” units;
• ENHANCED MULTIPLAYER: In addition to traditional multiplayer modes, cooperate and compete with your friends in a wide variety of situations all designed to be easily completed in a single session;
• A CIV FOR ALL PLAYERS: Civilization VI provides veteran players new ways to build and tune their civilization for the greatest chance of success. New tutorial systems are designed to introduce new players to the underlying concepts of Civilization so they can easily get started on a path to victory.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is available for Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC.