we didn’t realize quite how strongly players identified with the idea of, ‘I need to take some people and grow them and have that specific civilization cultural set be what’s growing to face the challenges of world history,’

That's the core idea since Civ started and they don't get that that's what people like? That explains a lot.

Instead of what they've been doing I'd love to see them release a fantasy Civ like Warlock 2.