Editing Civilization II (section)

===Sales===
''Civilization II'' placed second on [[PC Data]]'s monthly computer game sales chart for April 1996.<ref name=apr1996>{{cite news | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180402211056/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1996-06-29/lifestyle/9606270660_1_ms-dos-cd-rom-cd-win95 | url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1996/06/29/top-software-best-selling-titles-games/ | title=Top Software Best-selling Titles: Games | date=June 29, 1996 | author=Staff | archive-date=April 2, 2018 | newspaper=[[Hartford Courant]] | url-status=live }}</ref> The game secured position 3 for the next four months,<ref name=june1996>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970205063051/http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,140,00.html | url=http://www.gamecenter.com:80/News/Item/0,3,140,00.html | title=June's top 30 games | author=GamerX | date=August 8, 1996 | work=[[CNET|CNET Gamecenter]] | archive-date=February 5, 1997 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref><ref name=aug1996>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970205061646/http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,137,00.html | url=http://www.gamecenter.com:80/News/Item/0,3,137,00.html | title=August's top 30 games | author=GamerX | date=September 27, 1996 | work=CNET Gamecenter | archive-date=February 5, 1997 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> before dropping to No. 5 in September.<ref name=sept1996>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970205060645/http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,195,00.html | url=http://www.gamecenter.com:80/News/Item/0,3,195,00.html | title=September's top 30 games | author=GamerX | date=October 29, 1996 | archive-date=February 5, 1997 | work=CNET Gamecenter | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> It exited PC Data's top 10 in December, after remaining there for an additional two months.<ref name=oct1996>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970205055806/http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,348,00.html | url=http://www.gamecenter.com:80/News/Item/0,3,348,00.html | title=October's top 30 games | author=GamerX | date=November 27, 1996 | archive-date=February 5, 1997 | work=CNET Gamecenter | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref><ref name=nov1996>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970205054929/http://www.gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,444,00.html | url=http://www.gamecenter.com:80/News/Item/0,3,444,00.html | title=November's 30 best-sellers | author=GamerX | date=January 10, 1997 | archive-date=February 5, 1997 | work=CNET Gamecenter | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref><ref name=moredec96>{{cite magazine | author=Staff | magazine=[[Computer Gaming World]] | title=PC Data Best-Sellers |date=April 1997 | issue=153 | pages=32 }}</ref> In the United States, ''Civilization II'' was the third-best-selling computer game of the first six months of 1996,<ref name=1996first6>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970606062336/http://www.news.com/SpecialFeatures/0,5,3471,00.html | url=http://www.news.com:80/SpecialFeatures/0,5,3471,00.html | title=A whole new ball game | author=Yoshitake, Dawn | date=September 14, 1996 | work=[[News.com]] | archive-date=June 6, 1997 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> and the fifth-highest seller of the year as a whole.<ref name=top1996>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180402225434/https://www.csmonitor.com/1997/0227/022797.news.news.1.html | url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1997/0227/022797.news.news.1.html | title=News In Brief |author1=Kilborn, Robert |author2=Hanson, Cynthia |author3=Hodges, Debbie | date=February 27, 1997 | archive-date=April 2, 2018 | work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] | url-status=live }}</ref> Worldwide, its sales surpassed 400,000 copies by August, reached 500,000 in September and topped 600,000 by November.<ref name=400k>{{cite press release | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961221153023/http://www.microprose.com/corporatedesign/press/civ2.html | url=http://www.microprose.com:80/corporatedesign/press/civ2.html | title=The Destiny of the World is in the Hands of Game Players Everywhere with Microprose's Strategy Hit ''Civilization II'' | location=[[Alameda, California]] | date=August 14, 1996 | archive-date=December 21, 1996 | publisher=[[Microprose]] | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref><ref name=500k>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970606045547/http://www.next-generation.com/news/092196f.html | url=http://www.next-generation.com:80/news/092196f.html | title=Happy Spectrum Hits Million Mark | date=September 21, 1996 | author=Staff | archive-date=June 6, 1997 | work=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]] | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref><ref name=600k>{{cite press release | title=Microprose's Expansion Disc Extends Strategic Game Play with 20 New Challenges and Worlds to Conquer | date=November 5, 1996 | location=Alameda, California | publisher=Microprose }}</ref> In the United States alone, it sold 482,522 units and earned $21.1 million by the end of 1996.<ref name=slow>{{cite news | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518142834/http://articles.latimes.com/1997-03-03/business/fi-34360_1_pc-game | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-03-fi-34360-story.html | title=''Myst'' Opportunities: Game Makers Narrow Their Focus to Search for the Next Blockbuster | date=March 3, 1997 | author=Miller, Greg | newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] | archive-date=May 18, 2016 | url-status=live }}</ref>

By mid-January 1997, global sales of ''Civilization II'' had surpassed 720,000 copies.<ref name=mill1>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970615020125/http://www.cdmag.com/news/0115971.html | url=http://www.cdmag.com:80/news/0115971.html | title=Ch-ching – Westwood cashes in | author=Bauman, Steve | date=January 15, 1997 | work=[[Computer Games Magazine|Computer Games Strategy Plus]] | archive-date=June 15, 1997 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> It finished 20th on PC Data's monthly chart for March,<ref name=mar1997>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000306101157/http://headline.gamespot.com/news/97_05/01_pcdatamar/index.html | url=http://headline.gamespot.com:80/news/97_05/01_pcdatamar/index.html | title=PC Data Releases Monthly Numbers | work=[[GameSpot]] | author=Lee, Helen | date=May 1, 1997 | archive-date=March 6, 2000 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> and was the United States' 17th-highest-selling computer game of the year's first half.<ref name=6months>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000307163045/http://headline.gamespot.com/news/97_09/12_toptwenty/index.html | url=http://headline.gamespot.com:80/news/97_09/12_toptwenty/index.html | title=Game Sales on the Rise | date=September 12, 1997 | author=Staff | work=[[GameSpot]] | archive-date=March 7, 2000 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> The game had topped its predecessor's 850,000 sales that August,<ref name=civ2sales>{{cite magazine| author=Coleman, Terry |title=Cover Story; Hallowed Ground |date=August 1997 |issue=157| magazine=[[Computer Gaming World]] | pages=66–68 }}</ref> and continued to sell "over 20,000 units a month" by November, according to Microprose.<ref name=20k>{{cite press release | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980120113900/http://www.microprose.com/corporatedesign/press/civ2fwpress.html | url=http://www.microprose.com:80/corporatedesign/press/civ2fwpress.html | title=Microprose Unleashes a Whole New Dimension for Fans of the Award-Winning Sid Meier's ''Civilization II'' Series | date=November 11, 1997 | archive-date=January 20, 1998 | publisher=[[Microprose]] | location=Alameda, California | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> ''Civilization II'' reached 1.2 million units sold by April 1998; Terry Coleman of ''[[Computer Gaming World]]'' wrote that sales were "still going strong" at that time.<ref name=colemansales>{{cite magazine | title=READ.ME; Will the Real ''Civ'' Please Boot Up? | date=April 1998 | issue=165 | author=Coleman, Terry | magazine=[[Computer Gaming World]] | page=40 }}</ref> In the United Kingdom alone, the game sold 160,000 units by 1999.<ref name=pczonesales>{{cite journal| title=''Civilization: Call to Power''; The Story of Sid and ''Civ'' | author=Wright, Andrew | journal=[[PC Zone]] | date=April 1999 | issue=75 | pages=70–73 }}</ref> It also received a "Gold" award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) in August 1998,<ref name=vud1998>{{cite press release | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000713050154/http://www.vud.de/infopres/cebit98.htm | url=http://www.vud.de:80/infopres/cebit98.htm | title=Uhr TCM Hannover – ein glänzender Event auf der CebitHome | date=August 26, 1998 | publisher=Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland | archive-date=July 13, 2000 | language=de | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> for sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.<ref name=gameprogold>{{cite magazine | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718145345/https://www.gamepro.de/artikel/vud-gold-awards-2003,1290773.html | url=https://www.gamepro.de/artikel/vud-gold-awards-2003,1290773.html | title=VUD-Gold-Awards 2003 | author=Horn, Andre | date=January 14, 2004 | magazine=[[GamePro|GamePro Germany]] | archive-date=July 18, 2018 | language=de | url-status=live }}</ref> ''Civilization II Gold'' alone sold 171,495 copies in the United States by September 2000, according to PC Data.<ref name=numbersracket>{{cite magazine | author=Jones, George | date=September 2000 | title=''Call to Power 2''; The Numbers Racket | issue=194 | pages=54, 55 | magazine=[[Computer Gaming World]] }}</ref>

In August 2001, Jeff Briggs of [[Firaxis]] estimated that ''Civilization II'' had sold "about 3 million" copies.<ref name=3m>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010828180918/http://www.pcgamer.com/eyewitness/eyewitness_2001-08-22.html | url=http://www.pcgamer.com:80/eyewitness/eyewitness_2001-08-22.html | title=Firaxis Interview | date=August 22, 2001 | archive-date=August 28, 2001 | work=[[PC Gamer US]] | author=Staff | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> Meier said that he was "wrong on all counts" about opposing mod support; "The strength of the modding community is, instead, the very reason the series survived".{{r|jahromi20210922}}