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Civilization 3 came out for Windows in North America on Oct 30, 2001, followed by a Mac version on Jan 6, 2002, Play the World on Oct 29, 2002, Conquests on Nov 4, 2003 and the Complete edition in Sep 2004. It reached Steam on Oct 25, 2006 and GOG on Nov 30, 2016, and its online play moved from GameSpy to Steam on Mar 16, 2015.
Civilization 3 came out for Windows in North America on Oct 30, 2001, from Firaxis Games and Infogrames, two and a half years after its announcement at E3 on May 17, 1999. Its two expansions followed a year apart: Play the World on Oct 29, 2002 and Conquests on Nov 4, 2003. Civilization 3 Complete gathered all three in September 2004, and it is the edition sold today: on Steam since Oct 25, 2006 and on GOG since Nov 30, 2016. The last change was 2K's move of online play from the closed GameSpy to Steam on Mar 16, 2015.
Quick facts
| Announced | May 17, 1999, at E3 in Los Angeles |
| Gone gold | Oct 8, 2001 |
| Released (Windows) | Oct 30, 2001 in North America |
| Mac (MacSoft) | Jan 6, 2002 |
| Play the World | Oct 29, 2002 |
| Conquests | Nov 4, 2003 |
| Complete | September 2004 (Windows), Jan 4, 2006 (Mac, Aspyr) |
| Steam | Oct 25, 2006 |
| Steam multiplayer update | Mar 16, 2015 |
| GOG | Nov 30, 2016 |
Every release in order
| Date | Release | What it added |
|---|---|---|
| May 17, 1999 | Announcement | Hasbro Interactive and Firaxis announce the game at E3 |
| Sep 28, 2001 | Pre-orders and the Limited Edition | A tin box limited to 75,000 copies, with a making-of video and a foldout technology tree |
| Oct 8, 2001 | Gone gold | The finished game goes to manufacturing |
| Oct 30, 2001 | Civilization 3 (Windows) | 16 civilizations, culture and borders, resources, traits, no multiplayer |
| Jan 6, 2002 | Mac version | MacSoft's release, ported by Westlake Interactive |
| 2002 to 2003 | Base game patches | v1.21f, then v1.29f |
| About Oct 22, 2002 | Game of the Year Edition | The game with a making-of video and a keyboard card |
| Oct 29, 2002 | Play the World | Multiplayer, eight civilizations, new game types |
| Mar 3, 2003 | Play the World v1.27f | Fixes for online play |
| Oct 28, 2003 | Gold Edition | The game and Play the World in one box |
| Nov 4, 2003 | Conquests | Nine scenarios, seven civilizations, two traits, two difficulty levels |
| Apr 5, 2004 | Conquests v1.22 | The last Conquests patch |
| Sep 2004 | Civilization 3 Complete | The game and both expansions in one box |
| Jan 4, 2006 | Complete for Mac | Aspyr's port, the first Mac release of either expansion |
| Oct 25, 2006 | Steam | Complete goes on sale as app 3910 |
| Mar 16, 2015 | Steam multiplayer update | Online play moves from GameSpy to Steam |
| Nov 30, 2016 | GOG | Complete goes on sale DRM-free |
Sources: the sections below.
The announcement: May 17, 1999
Civilization 3 was announced at E3 in Los Angeles on May 17, 1999, when Hasbro Interactive and Firaxis announced "a strategic partnership" to make it. The press conference brought together Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds of Firaxis with Hasbro Interactive's Tony Parks, and the release said Firaxis "will begin development on the title in the coming months." Hasbro owned MicroProse, which held the Civilization rights. Infogrames bought Hasbro Interactive in January 2001 and published the game. See Development History.
The Limited Edition: Sep 28, 2001
Pre-orders opened on Sep 28, 2001, with a Limited Edition "limited to 75,000 units" at about $59.99 beside the $49.99 standard box. GameSpot listed what came in its tin box: a making-of video, a video of Sid Meier's induction into the IDSA Hall of Fame, designer notes from Meier and Briggs, and a foldout technology tree.
Civilization 3: Oct 30, 2001
The game went gold on Oct 8, 2001 and reached North American stores on Oct 30, the date GameSpot, IGN, Metacritic and Steam all give. It needed Windows 95 or later, a 300 MHz Pentium II and 32 MB of memory, per the 2001 manual. It shipped with 16 civilizations and no multiplayer: GameSpot reported that "as the game neared completion, Firaxis decided not to ship with multiplayer support". The standard and limited editions were No. 1 and No. 2 in the US in their first week.
No source fixes the European release date. An archived Infogrames UK page gives a release date of Mar 1, 2002, which may describe a later UK edition.
The Mac version: Jan 6, 2002
MacSoft, Infogrames' Mac label, shipped the Mac version on Jan 6, 2002, in time for Macworld Expo San Francisco. Westlake Interactive did the port, which ran natively on Mac OS 8.6 and Mac OS X, at $49.99, per Macworld.
Base game patches: 2002 to 2003
Firaxis patched the base game after launch. The official news page mentions "the upcoming 1.21f patch" in Apr 2002 and later "The v1.29f patch is now available for download", posted between the Play the World announcement of May 2002 and Play the World's own patch in Mar 2003 (civ3.com). No official page found gives v1.29f's exact date. See Patches and Updates.
The Game of the Year Edition: Oct 2002
The Game of the Year Edition came out about a week before Play the World: the game with a "Making of Civilization III" video and a keyboard reference card, at about $39.95. Infogrames' release of Oct 29, 2002 says it shipped "last week", so about Oct 22.
Play the World: Oct 29, 2002
Play the World, announced on May 8, 2002, shipped in North America on Oct 29, 2002 at about $29.95 (Metacritic dates it Oct 25). It added multiplayer over the Internet, LAN, Hot Seat and email, with turn-based, simultaneous and new "turnless" modes, eight civilizations, Regicide, Elimination and Capture the Flag games, airfields, outposts and radar towers, and the Internet wonder. Patch v1.27f, dated Mar 3, 2003, fixed "online matchmaking, unit movement delays, player exploits, and out of sync errors". See Play the World and Multiplayer.
The Gold Edition: Oct 28, 2003
The Gold Edition put the game and Play the World in one box. Announced on Sep 17, 2003, it was "available on October 28, 2003" at $39.99, per Worthplaying. By then Infogrames Inc. had renamed itself Atari, Inc. (May 2003).
Conquests: Nov 4, 2003
Conquests went gold on Oct 24, 2003 and shipped in North America on Nov 4, 2003, at $29.99, published by Atari and made by Firaxis with Breakaway Games. The Gold Edition's announcement had planned it for Oct 28. It added nine scenarios, seven civilizations, the Agricultural and Seafaring traits, new governments, five wonders and the Demigod and Sid difficulty levels, and it included Play the World. Patch v1.22, dated Apr 5, 2004, was its last; its saves cannot be loaded in earlier versions. See Conquests.
Civilization 3 Complete: September 2004
Atari announced Civilization 3 Complete on Aug 6, 2004 for "this September", at $39.99, with the base game, Play the World and Conquests; Worthplaying gave its retail date as Sep 14, 2004. Its manual asks for Windows 98 to XP, a 400 MHz Pentium II and DirectX 9.0b. Every later release is this edition. See Complete Edition and Where to Buy.
Complete for Mac: Jan 4, 2006
Aspyr shipped Civilization 3 Complete for Mac on Jan 4, 2006, at $49.99, for Mac OS X 10.3.9 on a 500 MHz G4. Take-Two had bought the series' rights in Jan 2005, and Aspyr licensed and ported the game anew. Macworld's review noted that Play the World and Conquests had never reached the Mac before. It was built for PowerPC, and no Mac version is sold today.
Steam: Oct 25, 2006
Civilization 3 Complete went on sale on Steam on Oct 25, 2006 as app 3910, for Windows and in English only. Steam's store page shows the game's original Oct 30, 2001 date instead.
GameSpy closes and Steam takes over: 2014 to 2015
Online play went dark when GameSpy closed. In Apr 2014 2K said Civilization 3, Play the World and Conquests would move to Steamworks and "will temporarily go offline after May 31" (Game Informer, relaying 2K). The update arrived on Mar 16, 2015: "The update that replaces GameSpy with Steam for multiplayer functionality is now available via Steam", with the Direct IP option removed. A follow-up on Apr 23, 2015 fixed problems from the change and removed the in-game Steam overlay. See Multiplayer.
GOG: Nov 30, 2016
GOG began selling Civilization 3 Complete on Nov 30, 2016, DRM-free for Windows, with the manuals as a bonus. Its store page notes that DirectPlay must be installed on Windows 8 and later.
Since 2016
No new edition, remaster or patch of Civilization 3 has been announced. Steam has run sales, such as 80% off in the Firaxis 30th Anniversary Sale from May 1, 2026 and 20% off in the 35th anniversary sale of Sep 3 to 17, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
When did Civilization 3 come out? Civilization 3 came out for Windows in North America on Oct 30, 2001, published by Infogrames. It had gone gold on Oct 8.
In what order did the Civ 3 expansions come out? Civilization 3's first expansion, Play the World, came out on Oct 29, 2002, and the second, Conquests, on Nov 4, 2003. Conquests includes everything Play the World added.
When did Civilization 3 Complete come out? Civilization 3 Complete, with both expansions, was announced on Aug 6, 2004 for September 2004 at $39.99, and it has been on Steam since Oct 25, 2006.
Is Civ 3 on the Mac? Civilization 3 came to the Mac twice: MacSoft's version of the base game on Jan 6, 2002 and Aspyr's Complete on Jan 4, 2006. Both were for PowerPC Macs, and neither Steam nor GOG sells a Mac version today.
What was the last Civ 3 patch? Civilization 3's last Conquests patch is v1.22, dated Apr 5, 2004. The last update of any kind came on Steam in Apr 2015, after online play moved to Steam.
When did Civ 3 come to Steam and GOG? Civilization 3 Complete came to Steam on Oct 25, 2006 and to GOG on Nov 30, 2016.
Sources
- Hasbro Interactive and Firaxis Games Announce Partnership to Create 'Sid Meier's Civilization III', Hasbro Interactive, May 17, 1999
- Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Dec 31, 2001, Infogrames Inc., Feb 14, 2002
- Form 10-K transition report, Atari Inc., Jul 15, 2003
- Civilization III limited edition available for preorder, GameSpot (Trey Walker), Sep 28, 2001
- Civilization III goes gold, Worthplaying, Oct 8, 2001
- Civilization III Review, GameSpot (Tom Chick), Oct 30, 2001
- Civilization III Review, IGN (Steve Butts), Oct 29, 2001
- Sid Meier's Civilization III, Metacritic, read Oct 22, 2026
- Civilization III takes first and second place, GameSpot (Trey Walker), Nov 14, 2001
- Civilization III manual, first edition, Infogrames and Firaxis Games, Sep 2001 (Internet Archive)
- Civilisation 3, Infogrames UK (archived), Jun 28, 2003
- MacSoft ships Civilization III, Macworld (Peter Cohen), Jan 6, 2002
- News, civ3.com (archived), read Oct 22, 2026
- Support, civ3.com (archived), read Oct 22, 2026
- Civilization III: Play the World announced, GameSpot (Trey Walker), May 8, 2002
- Infogrames Ships Major Expansion Pack for Sid Meier's Civilization III, Infogrames, Oct 29, 2002
- Sid Meier's Civilization III Gold Edition Announced, Worthplaying, Sep 17, 2003
- Civilization: Conquests enters golden age, GameSpot (Tor Thorsen), Oct 24, 2003
- Civilization III: Conquests Ships, IGN (David Adams), Nov 4, 2003
- Sid Meier's Civilization III: Conquests, BreakAway Games, read Oct 22, 2026
- Civilization III: Complete announced, GameSpot, Aug 6, 2004
- Civilization III Complete Announced, Worthplaying, Aug 6, 2004
- Civilization III Complete manual, Atari and Firaxis Games, 2005 (on Steam)
- Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Announces Acquisition of Civilization Franchise, Take-Two (Business Wire), Jan 26, 2005
- Aspyr ships Civilization III: Complete, Macworld (Peter Cohen), Jan 4, 2006
- Civilization III: Complete, Macworld (Peter Cohen), Jan 26, 2006
- Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete, Steam, read Oct 22, 2026
- appdetails, app 3910, Steam Store API, read Oct 22, 2026
- Following GameSpy Closure, 2K Will Continue Support For Some Titles, Game Informer (Mike Futter), Apr 22, 2014
- Civilization III Multiplayer Update Now Available, 2K on Steam, Mar 16, 2015
- New update available, 2K on Steam, Apr 23, 2015
- Product 1471405734, GOG API, read Oct 22, 2026
- Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete, GOG, read Oct 22, 2026
- Firaxis Anniversary Sale, 2K on Steam, Apr 30, 2026
- Civilization 35th Anniversary Franchise Sale, 2K on Steam, Sep 3, 2026
- How To Play Your First Game Of Civ 3, Suede, Feb 12, 2020 (video)
- How To Start Playing Civ 3 Online Multiplayer With The Civplayers Civ3 League, Suede, Nov 30, 2018 (video)
Moments
How To Play Your First Game Of Civ 3
Suede
How To Start Playing Civ 3 Online Multiplayer With The Civplayers Civ3 League
Suede
Related
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Civilization 3 vs 2 and 4Civilization 3 (2001) added culture and borders, strategic and luxury resources, unique units, two traits per civilization, Great Leaders and armies to the series and dropped Civilization 2's caravans, engineers and unit bribery; Civilization 4 (2005) then replaced Civ 3's corruption with city maintenance and added spreading religions, civics and Great People. Critics scored Civ 4 a little higher, and which is better is a matter of taste.
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Jeff BriggsJeff Briggs cofounded Firaxis Games with Sid Meier and Brian Reynolds in 1996, was its president and CEO, and was the lead designer of Civilization 3, which he designed with Soren Johnson after Reynolds left; he is also a composer.
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Reception and AwardsCivilization 3 scored 90 on Metacritic, 9.2 at GameSpot and 9.3 at IGN, won the PC Strategy award at the 2002 Interactive Achievement Awards, and was the best-selling game in the US in its launch week; critics faulted its corruption, endgame micromanagement and missing multiplayer.
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Sid MeierSid Meier created Civilization and his name is in the title, but Civilization 3 was designed by Jeff Briggs and Soren Johnson; Meier is credited with the original Civilization design and, in Conquests' credits, as Director of Creative Development.
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Soren JohnsonSoren Johnson co-designed Civilization 3 with Jeff Briggs and wrote its game and AI code, working at Firaxis Games from 2000 to 2007 before leading Civilization 4; he has since called Civ 3's bargaining table a big mistake and its corruption the number one complaint.
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Civilization TraitsEvery Civilization 3 civilization has two of eight traits: Commercial, Expansionist, Industrious, Militaristic, Religious and Scientific from the 2001 base game, plus Agricultural and Seafaring added by Conquests. Each makes some buildings cheaper or adds a bonus, such as a one-turn Anarchy for Religious civilizations.
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See also
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Play the WorldPlay the World is Civilization 3's first expansion, shipped on Oct 29, 2002 at $29.95. It added multiplayer (Internet, LAN, Hot Seat and email, in turn-based, simultaneous and turnless modes), eight civilizations, Regicide, Elimination and Capture the Flag games, airfields, outposts, radar towers, stacked movement and the Internet wonder; Conquests includes all of it.
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ConquestsConquests is Civilization 3's second expansion, shipped by Atari on Nov 4, 2003 at $29.99 and made by Firaxis Games with Breakaway Games. It added nine historical scenarios, seven civilizations, the Agricultural and Seafaring traits, new governments, five wonders, the Demigod and Sid difficulty levels and more, includes Play the World, and is the version Civilization 3 Complete runs today.
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Development HistoryFiraxis Games made Civilization 3, designed by Jeff Briggs and Soren Johnson; Hasbro Interactive and Firaxis announced it at E3 on May 17, 1999, and Infogrames published it in North America on Oct 30, 2001.
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Patches and UpdatesThe last official patches for Civilization 3 are v1.22 for Conquests (Apr 5, 2004) and v1.27f for Play the World (Mar 3, 2003); the base game's v1.29f came out in 2002 or early 2003, and 2K's two Steam updates of 2015 moved online play from GameSpy to Steam. Fixes since then come from fans, chiefly the C3X mod for the Conquests executable.
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MultiplayerCivilization 3 shipped in 2001 with no multiplayer; the Play the World expansion (2002) added Internet, LAN, Hot Seat and Play by E-Mail games for up to eight players, and since a Steam update of Mar 16, 2015 online games run through Steam instead of the closed GameSpy service, without the old Direct IP option.
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