Jake Solomon, the designer and director behind several iconic strategy games including Marvel’s Midnight Suns, the Civilization series, and XCOM is leaving Firaxis, as the company appoints a new studio head, and Solomon embarks on a “new chapter.”
It’s been a big day of news for Firaxis, as the studio has also confirmed that Civilization 7 is officially in development. Meanwhile, Jake Solomon, who joined Firaxis in 2000, has announced his departure.
Solomon has served as the director and design lead on some of the most successful strategy and turn-based games of the last two decades, most recently acting as creative director on superhero game Midnight Suns – as noted in our own Midnight Suns review, this was one of the standout hits of 2022.
Now, the game development icon is leaving Firaxis, saying that the company has allowed him to fulfil “lifelong dreams.”
“After 23 wonderful years, I’m moving on from Firaxis,” Solomon says. “I’m a big dreamer, and I fulfilled two lifelong dreams in making XCOM and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. I’m the luckiest kid who ever lived. I’m grateful to Sid [Meier, Firaxis co-founder] first and foremost for teaching me. If I’m ever half as good as him, I will be twice as good as I am now.
“I’m grateful to my Firaxis teammates, past and present…I’m grateful to 2K for always believing in the dreams…and I’m so thankful to everyone who enjoyed XCOM and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. My brain is on fire with a new dream. Time to go chase it.” You can see the full statement from Solomon below.
In a separate statement, received by PCGamesN, Solomon says he is embarking on a “new chapter,” and “thankful to everyone who enjoyed XCOM and Marvel’s Midnight Suns, and to my development and publishing partners who helped bring those games to life.”
Ed Beach will continue to serve as creative director on the Civilization series, including the next Civilization game. Meanwhile, Firaxis has appointed Heather Hazen, who joined the company in 2020 after working at Epic Games and PopCap, as its new studio head.
“I’m lucky to be working with some of the best developers in our industry,” Hazen says, “and we have plans to take the Civilization franchise to exciting new heights for our millions of players around the world. In addition, we will continue to support Marvel’s Midnight Suns with post-launch content, and explore new creative projects for our teams.”
If you’re a big Firaxis fan, check out some great grand strategy games. You can also try the greatest 4X games, or you might want to get the best RTS games on PC.