Jake Solomon, the former creative director behind Firaxis’ legendary XCOM series and the game director for Marvel’s Midnight Suns has revealed the new studio that he, and other Firaxis veterans have founded.
Midsummer Studios is the latest game development studio to enter the fray, with Solomon, Will Miller and Nelsie Birch as its co-founders. Part of the founding company also includes Grant Rodiek, who joins Midsummer after an 18-year tenure with The Sims developer Maxis including a time as the studio’s director.
Midsummer’s aim is to make a next-generation kind of life sim game, with the intention to “revitalize the life sim genre, empowering players to create and share meaningful stories through play,” says a press release for the studio’s announcement.
“The best stories in games are written by the players,” said Solomon, who’ll take the reigns of chief executive officer and creative director at Midsummer.
“At Midsummer we’re making a life sim focused on the drama of modern life, where our players will write meaningful stories just by playing, and then share those stories with the world.”
Before founding Midsummer, Solomon spent 20 years working at Firaxis, with Marvel’s Midnight Suns being the project that sun-setted his time at the studio.
Solomon had previously alluded to wanting to start his own studio, but now we have confirmation that he has indeed been working to do this since he left Firaxis.
This announcement also confirms what he previously said that he wouldn’t be making another turn-based strategy game next, and it’ll be interesting to see if this departure into life sim games will find any overlap with those who loved his work with XCOM.
Midsummer’s public reveal comes after securing $6 million in its latest round of funding from major investors, with Transcend Fund leading the pack.
Tirta Ventures, Betaworks Ventures, 1Up Ventures, F4 Fund, Krafton and Day Zero Productions are also major investors in Midsummer.
“Leading the Seed for Midsummer was a natural fit for Transcend. As a producer on The Sims myself nearly twenty years ago, I am well acquainted with the power that meaningful player-driven stories can unlock,” said founding partner at Transcend Shanti Bergel.
“I also have an abiding respect for how hard it is to deliver the alchemy of community, systems design, gameplay, and user generated content necessary to do so. The Midsummer founders are industry veterans with the rare experience and design artistry required to deliver against this massive opportunity. I am delighted to join the board and support their journey to redefine the Life Sim category.”
We don’t know much of anything about the studio’s initial project other than it’ll be a life sim game focused on player-driven narratives. We do however know it’ll have a small-town setting, and be intensely focused on the story you as the player create.
All that and more comes from PSU’s interview with Midsummer Studio’s leader Jake Solomon, which you can check out right here.
Source – [Midsummer Press Release]