After 23 years with Firaxis, Marvel's Midnight Suns and XCOM creative director Jake Solomon has announced he's leaving the company. Solomon says he's "loved" designing the tactical turn-based games for which he's become known, but that it's time to chase a new dream.
In a statement released on Twitter, Solomon calls himself "the luckiest kid who ever lived" for getting to work on both XCOM and Midnight Suns. He expresses gratitude to Firaxis' Sid Meier, of whom he says "if I'm ever half as good as him I'll be twice as good as I am now", as well as his Firaxis teammates and 2K.
Solomon also says he's thankful to players for enjoying XCOM and Midnight Suns, and that he's "never taken this job for granted". Although he's enjoyed designing turn-based games, Solomon says it's "time for other, smarter people" to work in that area and push it forward.
We don't know what Solomon is going to do next, but he says his "brain is on fire with a new dream" and that it's time to chase that dream. Here's hoping he's not going the way of industry luminaries like Richard Garriott or Tomonobu Itagaki and moving into the NFT space. Only time will tell.
Jake Solomon joined Firaxis in 2000, and since signing up with the company, he's worked on projects like Civilization, Pirates!, and Railroads!. He was chosen to be one of the creative directors on 2012's XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which served as a reboot of the classic XCOM strategy series. Solomon subsequently directed the 2016 followup XCOM 2, as well as last year's Marvel's Midnight Suns, for which he also served as something of a public face.
Solomon isn't the only person leaving Firaxis, either. Studio head Steve Martin also announced his departure earlier via the official Firaxis Twitter account. Martin was with Firaxis for 27 years. He'll be replaced by COO Heather Hazen, ushering in what Firaxis calls "a new era of development".
This news comes alongside a reveal that the next major Civilization game is in development, and that it'll once again see Ed Beach take the role of creative director. Beach led work on Civilization VI, which, according to Firaxis, is the best-selling game in the series to date. We'll have to wait and see what he and his team come up with. Stay tuned to TechRaptor for more info on this.
