Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is fast upon us. Releasing on Oct 21st, Civilization VI is the direct sequel to 2010’s incredibly popular Civilization V, which has seen extended life with its Gods & Kings and Brave New World expansion packs. Suffice to say, Civilization VI is one of the most highly anticipated strategy games of this year. But Firaxis and 2K are planning on celebrating the game’s release with a particularly unique event: an AI battle on Twitch.
Starting on Wednesday, Oct 19th at 3:30 pm ET, 2K and Firaxis will be letting “an entirely AI-controlled game of Civilization VI” play out live on their official Twitch page. Eight civilizations will be going head-to-head against each other in hopes of achieving victory. In particular, these civilizations are the Aztecs, Brazil, England, Greece, Japan, Rome, Russia and Spain.
Alongside the event, Civilization VI‘s developers will also be providing live commentary about the game. Which should be interesting to watch, because the developers can provide insight into how the game’s civilizations operate and describe the strategies they use during play.
More importantly, 2K and Firaxis are demonstrating a unique kind of promotional event. Instead of having a developer or let’s player stream the game, Civilization VI‘s AI Battle Royale will essentially be played out automatically. While not quite as democratic, as, say, Twitch’s (in)famous Twitch Plays series, it’s still an interesting premise: watch how well the AI plays against itself. The idea could definitely take off with other strategy game publishers who are interested in showing their players how the game runs automatically, as well as the quality behind the AI programming seen in-game.
The Civilization VI AI Battle Royale begins Wednesday, October 19, two days before the game’s official release. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for more news on the latest release as it comes along!