XCOM Director Jake Solomon Plans To Form A New Studio, First Game Likely Won't Be A Strategy Title

XCOM and Marvel's Midnight Suns director Jake Solomon is planning to form a new studio, but don't expect it to make strategy games like Firaxis did. Speaking on Simon Parkin's My Perfect Console podcast this week (via VGC), Solomon said that he doesn't feel like he has "anything more to say" when it comes to turn-based strategy and is instead excited by the prospect of working in a different genre.

"I found that I wasn’t that excited about doing another turn-based strategy game, not because the genre isn’t amazing--it's where I’ve spent my life--but I felt like I didn't have anything more to say in that area," Solomon said. "So I started thinking, what would I do if I wasn’t making this? If I wasn’t making another turn-based strategy game at Firaxis? And I started to get excited. There are other things that excite me as a designer, and the idea of starting something new was really exciting to me."

Solomon said that he would like to make a simulation title, one that will have a "systems-based" design as those elements are important to him. "System design is important to me, so I want to make a systems-based game," Solomon explained. "I think it won't be turn-based strategy. I want to make something that's more of a life simulator or a simulation-style game. That’s the plan."

The veteran developer hasn't formally announced his new studio yet, but he is in the process of securing funding for it and registering an official name for it, and he plans to have it based in Baltimore, which is where Firaxis is also located. After more than 20 years at Firaxis, Solomon's departure alongside studio head Steve Martin was announced last month by publisher 2K Games. While it's not clear if it's related, the shakeup at Firaxis comes after the studio's last game, Marvel's Midnight Suns, had a disappointing launch despite it receiving good reviews.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said that "it's possible the release window wasn’t perfect" but that the game could have steady sales over time, similar to Firaxis' other titles.