It may have not caused that much panic, but Amplitude consistently put out interesting ideas and enhancements to the Civ-likes in their games, so no wonder Firaxis might use these as templates and negate any unique features their competition might have over them. Plus, the Civ genre has to move in some way, anyway.

Oops, you’re right, corrected.

Or 1994’s Colonization?

Haven’t played Humankind yet, but Amplitude’s previous Civ/4X-like “Endless Legend” was amazing and very fresh take on the genre. And it looked like Firaxis were already trying to copy some of it in Civ 6, so I’m not surprised this trend continues.