Ex-Firaxis Creative Director Shuts Down Midsummer Studios
▼ Summary
– Midsummer Studios, co-founded by former XCOM designer Jake Solomon, is closing down.
– The studio released pre-alpha footage of its unreleased game, Burbank, which was a personal dream project for Solomon.
– The game’s characters used AI for memory, reasoning, and speech to enable player creativity in storytelling.
– Solomon emphasized that all art was created by human artists and the studio had no interest in replacing developers with AI.
– The studio was founded in 2024 and had raised $6 million in a funding round led by Transcend Fund.
The recent closure of Midsummer Studios marks a significant moment for the games industry, highlighting the volatile intersection of creative ambition, emerging technology, and market realities. Founded just this year by a team of industry veterans, the studio aimed to push narrative boundaries with its unreleased title, Burbank. Before shutting down, the studio’s leadership chose to share a glimpse of their work, offering a poignant look at a project that will now remain unrealized.
Jake Solomon, the former Firaxis creative director renowned for his work on XCOM, co-founded the studio and served as its CEO. In a social media statement, he expressed profound pride in what the team had accomplished in a short time. “We built a studio, we made a game, and I’m really proud of both,” Solomon wrote. He accompanied his message with pre-alpha footage of Burbank, describing the game as a personal dream brought to life by the team and inviting others to “watch and dream with us.”
A critical and revealing aspect of the project was its underlying technology. In a follow-up post, Solomon clarified that the character performances within Burbank were powered by artificial intelligence. “Our characters use AI for memory, reasoning and speech. That’s what lets you create anyone you want and drop them in any story you write,” he explained. This approach was central to the studio’s vision for dynamic, player-driven narratives.
However, Solomon was quick to draw a distinction regarding the role of AI in their development pipeline, emphasizing a commitment to human artistry. He stated unequivocally that the studio had no interest in displacing developers with automation. “But all of our art is created by our talented artists. We had no interest in replacing any developers with AI,” he affirmed. This clarification underscores an ongoing industry debate about the ethical integration of AI as a tool versus its use as a replacement for creative roles.
Midsummer Studios was established in 2024 through a partnership between Solomon, ex-Firaxis lead designer Will Miller, and operations veteran Nelsie Birch. The venture secured substantial early backing, raising $6 million in a funding round led by Transcend Fund. The round attracted participation from several notable investors, including Tirta Ventures, Betaworks Ventures, 1 Up Ventures, F4 Fund, Krafton, and Day Zero Productions. Despite this strong financial vote of confidence, the studio was unable to sustain its operations to bring its ambitious project to market.
The story of Midsummer serves as a reminder of the challenges facing new studios, even those helmed by proven talent and supported by significant investment. It also provides a concrete case study in how developers are experimenting with advanced AI systems to create new kinds of interactive experiences, while simultaneously navigating the complex human and economic factors that determine a studio’s fate. The legacy of Burbank may now exist only in a brief video, but it represents a bold, if unfinished, exploration of storytelling’s future in gaming.
(Source: Games Industry)