2K and Firaxis Games have announced two major 2027 plans for Civilization VII: the free Arc of Tomorrow update and the paid Earthrise expansion. The roadmap was revealed at PAX West during the franchise’s 35th anniversary celebrations, while Update 1.5.0 is due later this month with a long-requested Earth map.
The separate official Civilization VII anniversary announcement describes Arc of Tomorrow as a new fourth Age that will extend the playable timeline from roughly the 1950s into the 2050s. Earthrise will then carry the series into space, with missions across the solar system and environmental systems that can reshape a campaign.
Arc of Tomorrow brings the Atomic Age
Arc of Tomorrow is planned as a free update for owners of Civilization VII. It adds the Atomic Age, with period-specific buildings, units, visuals, music, civilizations, and leaders. Firaxis also plans new systems for the era, including expanded nuclear gameplay, multilateral agreements, proxy warfare, and tools for managing settlements.
Those systems are meant to make the postwar period more than a final set of technologies on the existing timeline. Players will be able to respond to nuclear stockpiles through agreements that can push toward disarmament or escalation. They can also turn settlements into City-States, giving them more control over settlement limits while opening another route into City-State interactions.
Firaxis says the update will also add Great Works of Film and Manufactured Goods. The first gives Film Crews different locations and benefits based on the kind of production being made. The second lets players combine commodities into more powerful resources, including Enriched Uranium. New civilizations and leaders are planned, although the full roster has not been revealed.
The team expects to begin the first round of Arc of Tomorrow playtesting through the Firaxis Feature Workshop later this year. Firaxis has stressed that the features and timing are still subject to change, so the announcement is a development roadmap rather than a locked release package.
Earthrise turns the campaign toward the stars
Civilization VII: Earthrise is the first paid expansion announced for the game, and its space theme will run through every Age. In Antiquity and Exploration, players will chart the night sky and name celestial bodies. The Modern Age will introduce early orbital missions around Earth and the Moon. During the Atomic Age, established space agencies will send missions across the solar system in search of planetary features and resources that feed back into life on Earth.
Earthrise is not only a space race expansion. New unit abilities and technologies will let players alter terrain and tile bonuses, while civil engineering structures can help resist natural disasters as temperatures rise. Firaxis also says civilizations can reverse warming and gain advantages from becoming more effective in particular biomes. The studio has not yet announced the expansion’s full feature list, civilizations, leaders, or exact release date beyond 2027.
Before either long-term addition arrives, Update 1.5.0 will add a True Start Location: Earth map later this month. Each civilization will begin in a location connected to its historical starting point, while natural wonders can vary between games. The update also includes new Voronoi map generation for Terra Incognita and Shuffle, faster map generation, more varied resource placement, diplomacy changes involving Influence, and interface improvements such as a tile ruler.
The breadth of the roadmap gives Civilization VII a clear next step beyond its current Ages, while the map update addresses a more immediate request. Players considering where to run a long strategy campaign can compare the game’s PC requirements with our guide to building a gaming PC, or look at the portability trade-offs in our Switch 2 and Steam Deck comparison. Arc of Tomorrow and Earthrise are both still in development, but Firaxis has now set the direction for Civilization VII’s next era.
