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Sid Meier's Civilization VII Announces First Expansion: Earthrise

Sid Meier's Civilization VII revealed several new additions at PAX West 2026, including the game's first major expansion called Earthrise.

2K Games and Firaxis Games held a special presentation during PAX West 2026, in which they revealed a number of new additions coming to Sid Meier's Civilization VII. Among the announcements are the new Update 1.5.0, coming shortly for the game's 35th Anniversary; the new Arc of Tomorrow update, coming in 2027; and the game's first major expansion, which they're calling Earthrise. We have the video of the presentation above, as well as all of the dev notes about the new content below.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII – Arc of Tomorrow

Arc of Tomorrow, a major free update launching in 2027, introduces the Atomic Age. Players are invited to sign up for a chance to playtest Arc of Tomorrow content through the Firaxis Feature Workshop during the first round of playtesting later this year.

• Atomic Age: A new, fourth Age that extends the playable timeline of history from the 1950s through the near future.
• Modern World & Visuals: Sweeping urban city architecture, updated tech and civic trees, new Triumphs, social policies, narrative events, and more.
• New Civilizations & Leaders: A new roster of period-specific civilizations, plus the return of leader Gandhi.
• Expanded Nuclear Gameplay: New offensive and defensive options and units, with a new twist on mutually assured destruction.
• New Empire Management Tools: Players can recognize the independence of your Settlements and release them as City-States, giving them new tools to address empire size and loyalty.
• Great Works of Film: Film Crews will hunt for the perfect filming location that differs depending on the desired genre, and gives variable benefits depending on the quality of the film produced.
• Manufactured Goods: Follow recipes that combine specific commodities to produce brand-new, powerful resources like Enriched Uranium.

The Earthrise Expansion

Sid Meier's Civilization VII: Earthrise is the first paid expansion for the title, themed around the historic space race and deploying missions across the solar system. Earthrise isn't just about looking up but also protecting the Earth itself. More details about Earthrise will be shared in the coming months.

• Antiquity & Exploration Ages: Players chart the night sky and name the celestial bodies above before expanding their insights into the solar system and their own planet's place within it.
• Modern Age: Launch early orbital missions around Earth and the Moon, setting the stage for further space operations.
• Atomic Age: Launch missions across the solar system with the player's own established space agency, discovering planetary features and untapped resources which feed back into their civilization's power here on Earth.
• Environmental Adaptability: New unit abilities and technologies enable you to alter the terrain and bonuses of tiles in your empire. New civil engineering structures help you fight back against increasing Natural Disasters as global temperatures rise–and you can even reverse the warming itself. And as your empire becomes more proficient in working the land in specific biomes, your civilization will earn new gameplay advantages that enhance your abilities in those biomes.

Update 1.5.0

Later this month, players will experience Update 1.5.0, which brings quality-of-life updates to the game and the long-requested True Start Location: Earth map.

• Earth Map & True Start Location: This new map generates the land, features, and resources of the real world, enabling a stronger role-playing fantasy through history. Players start their campaign in a map location representative of where their civ began in the real world, with each game spawning a different set of natural wonders in their natural locations, keeping things fresh even on a familiar map.
• Map Updates: Updated Terra Incognita and Shuffle map types with the Voronoi map generation algorithm. This will help ensure these map types are more varied and look more natural.
• Updates to Resource Generation: Map loading and generation are speedier, and resource placement should feel more varied.
• Updates to Diplomacy: Players can use Influence to stay in an alliance without joining their allies' misguided wars.
• UI Updates: Additional updates to plot tooltips, settlement banners, game setup, and a new tile ruler to help with city planning.

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