Firaxis Games, the studio behind last year's Marvel’s Midnight Suns, has discharged about 30 of its developers, according to a new report.
For some time now, layoffs have been the order of the day at video game studios. Firaxis Games is only the latest developer to take such a step. In May alone, Sony’s Pixelopus Studio, Sega’s Relic Studio, and CD Projekt Red’s Molasses Flood all cut jobs and discharged some of their employees.
Axios, which broke the news, reached out to a spokesperson for 2K Games, which stated that the layoffs were the result of a "sharpening of focus, enhancements of efficiencies, and an alignment of our talent against our highest priorities."
The rep also stated that Firaxis remains committed to "developing critically acclaimed video games."
This news comes on the back of an earlier announcement that Marvel’s Midnight Suns creative director Jake Solomon and boss Steve Martin were vacating their roles. Martin had been at the company for almost 30 years and Solomon had been there for a similar period.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Firaxis Games’ latest project, underperformed with audiences when it was released last December. The game received positive critical reviews and was rated highly by those who played it. Unfortunately, neither of these two things was enough to drive sales.
Nevertheless, the game released a PlayStation 4 and Xbox One release on May 11, after its original release on next-gen consoles last December. A Nintendo Switch release was also in the works at some point. Sadly, it was canceled presumably because of its poor sales performance.
2K Games, Firaxis Games’ publisher, blamed the game’s poor sales on a poorly timed release, saying that the "release window wasn't perfect."
Firaxis Games is the studio behind the popular science-fiction game franchise XCOM and the turn-based strategy video game series Civilization. In February, the company announced it is working on another installment of Civilization.
Unfortunately, we do not know more about the game, including whether it will be a mainline title or a spin-off.
