Reports are coming in this evening from players that Civilization VI has stopped working as you start the game.

This new problem appears to have come out the blue and it’s happening to players who have been playing the game fine for the past couple of days. The cinematics load but then the game freezes and locks on a black screen.

It’s hard to ascertain what is causing this but it is definitely happening when players try to load a game with many reporting it simply won’t launch. Some players have tried uninstalling, reinstalling, changed drivers, but nothing appears to work.

There’s no update from 2K on this issue as it’s a relatively new problem but it might be an idea to keep an eye on the Steam discussions page for a response from 2k in the coming hours.

If this is happening to you, also log the issue via 2K support.

Update: Some players are having some success by disabling Windows 10 Defender. Give that a shot and see if the problem is resolved.