Firaxis Games and 2K Games stymied the blow of losing both Jake Solomon and Steve Martin by announcing that the next Civilization game is already in development.
Former COO Heather Hazen, who will now be the head of Firaxis, revealed the studio’s upcoming project but she refused to confirm if it will be Civilization VII or if it’s another spin-off.
Firaxis released Civilization 6 in 2016, so a new installment is desperately needed after the studio experimented with XCOM: Chimera Squad and Marvel’s Midnight Suns, which was actually quite a surprise.
Most likely, Firaxis’ next Civilization game is part of Take-Two Interactive’s massive release pipeline through 2025/2026.
As for Solomon, the former XCOM franchise creative director (and Marvel’s Midnight Suns) thanked Firaxis for the 23 years he spent with the company. He reassured fans that he won’t be retiring from the video game industry, saying that his “brain is on fire with a new dream” and that it’s “time to go chase it.”
Long-time Civilization creative director, Ed Beach, will continue to shepherd the franchise through the future. Unfortunately, Solomon isn’t the only key staff member leaving Firaxis. Steve Martin, who Hazen will be replacing, will vacate his position as the longtime studio head after nearly three decades with the company as well.
Given how much the world has changed over the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re hoping Firaxis can still surprise us with Civilization VII (or whatever its name is going to be).
Fingers crossed, Mahatma Gandhi will be as aggressive and trigger-happy as ever.
