It's funny that you would call PDS the underdogs, because while Civ still has (some) of its former glory left and so is still a bestseller, the many PDS games

It's funny that you would call PDS the underdogs, because while Civ still has (some) of its former glory left and so is still a bestseller, the many PDS games are together probably at this point leading in terms of funding and popularity. And almost everyone else is far behind. To use a metaphor, in the «slow strategy video games» sector, Firaxis/TakeTwo are akin to the creators of Avatar for movies, while PDS/Paradox are Marvel/Disney. (note, high funding & popular ≠ good)