Zuckerberg Claims to Be a Civilization Grandmaster, Would Be Surprised if Anyone Could Beat Him

Meta founder and billionaire Mark Zuckerberg has recently appeared in a video interview with TikToker Pubity, revealing his deep-seated passion for the 4X turn-based strategy franchise Civilization. Zuckerberg claimed to be ‘close’ to Grandmaster status and said he’d be surprised if anyone at all could beat him at the game.

Priscilla [Chan, his wife] looked at my Steam account the other day and she was like, what? You’ve played this for more than a thousand hours? In terms of strategy games, the one that I’m more likely to want to be the best in the world at is Civilization. I think at some point, I should do a Twitch stream of me playing with someone because I’m pretty convinced that I’m close to Grandmaster status. I’d be surprised if anyone in the world can beat me at that.

While the infamous cage match with Elon Musk never actually happened, this is certainly more feasible—it wouldn’t be hard to find several world-class Civilization players willing to take on Zuckerberg in an online match, especially if the billionaire wanted to make it more interesting with some sort of prize.

Regardless of whether Zuckerberg actually follows up on that idea, Civilization aficionados are now getting excited about the upcoming launch of the seventh mainline installment in the series by Firaxis Games. Announced at Summer Game Fest 2024, Civilization VII is scheduled to be released on February 11, 2025 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, and Nintendo Switch, kicking off what could well be a memorable year for Take-Two with Borderlands 4, Mafia: The Old Country, and Grand Theft Auto VI.

Firaxis Games has promised that Civilization VII will feature a wealth of gameplay enhancements that will appeal to veterans and newcomers alike. An overhauled tutorial experience and refined gameplay systems will make it easier than ever to get started, while returning players will appreciate a host of improvements, such as moving your army as a unit under the leadership of a commander, unlocking progression bonuses for your leaders across multiple play sessions, traversing navigable rivers, and more. Here’s the list of PC system requirements: