Jake Solomon, the celebrated game designer behind the modern XCOM series and Marvel’s Midnight Suns, has revealed that his independent studio Midsummer Studios is closing its doors — just 21 months after it was founded. In a heartfelt statement posted to social media, Solomon shared a pre-alpha trailer for the studio’s sole project, a life simulation game called Burbank, offering fans a bittersweet look at what might have been.
Midsummer Studios was established in May 2024 by Solomon and several other former Firaxis developers, with an ambitious vision to create what they called a “next-generation” life sim. Solomon had departed Firaxis following the underwhelming commercial performance of Marvel’s Midnight Suns, a game that earned critical praise but failed to find a wide enough audience. The new venture was meant to be a fresh start, but it appears the studio was unable to secure the runway needed to bring Burbank to completion.
The trailer paints a picture of a genuinely novel concept. Described by Solomon as “Life Sims + The Truman Show,” Burbank cast players as directors of their own TV-style dramas. Players could craft characters with rich backstories, place them in customizable small-town settings, and then step back to watch the stories unfold — not entirely unlike Lionhead’s classic game The Movies. Characters could be prompted with questions in Office-style talking-head interviews, and new abilities, interactions, and locations could be unlocked over time as the show evolved, as detailed by IGN and Eurogamer.
A key element of Burbank’s design was that players were never fully in control. The characters had autonomous behaviors driven by AI systems that handled memory, reasoning, and speech — allowing players to create virtually anyone and drop them into any scenario they could imagine. Solomon was careful to note, however, that the studio’s visual art was entirely handcrafted by its artists. “We had no interest in replacing any developers with AI,” he stressed, drawing a clear line between using the technology as a gameplay mechanic and using it to cut creative jobs.
“We have moments playing this game where characters come alive in a way we’ve never experienced,” Solomon wrote. “And for an old game developer like me that’s special. What you’re about to see is definitely pre-alpha. But this game was a dream of mine, our team made it come true, so watch and dream with us.” While Solomon did not elaborate on the specific reasons behind the studio’s closure, the announcement adds to a difficult stretch for the games industry, which has seen numerous studio shutdowns and layoffs in recent years.
For Solomon, whose career stretches back to working as a programmer on Civilization 3, the loss of Burbank marks the end of a deeply personal creative endeavor. The trailer he shared stands as both a farewell and a testament to what a small, passionate team was able to build in a short time — a glimpse of a dream that, for now, will remain unrealized.