Firaxis announces new Civilization game as XCOM director Jake Solomon leaves
pcgamer.comJake Solomon has announced he's leaving Firaxis after over two decades, during which he helmed the excellent reboot of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and its sequel, before most recently directing Marvel's Midnight Suns (which is also excellent, if you're the kind of person who wants to take yoga classes with Blade). Firaxis announced the news with a bit of a consolation prize: A new Civilization game is on the way.
Firaxis' current COO, Heather Hazen, has also been promoted to studio head, replacing the departing Steve Martin (no, not the comedian), who'd been at Firaxis for 25 years and oversaw the launch of more than 30 titles. Hazen joined the studio in 2020 after a stint as executive producer on Fortnite, but previously worked at Popcap when Popcap was good and was involved with titles like Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled. And Hazen's wasted no time in telling folks what to expect.
«I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to carry on the studio's storied legacy, beginning with the announcement that Firaxis is in development on the next iteration of the legendary Civilization franchise,» said Hazen. «I’m lucky to be working with some of the best developers in our industry, 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.”
Come on Heather: XCOM 3? A little XCOM for us in these trying times? Sadly she stops there, though the announcement includes the news that Ed Beach, a Civ veteran and lead designer on Civilization 6, will be leading the new project. There's also a seriously impressive number buried in among the bumpf:
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