According to the Twitter account for Sid Meier’s Civilization, a new Civ game is in active development. Unfortunately, the news comes alongside the departure of two longtime developers at Firaxis.
“Hot off the presses,” the tweet states. “Next Civ game in development!!!!!!!”
Civilization 6, the most recent entry in the popular turn-based strategy game, hasn’t seen a major content release since 2019’s Gathering Storm expansion. For the past few years, Firaxis has released new Leaders and civilizations to the game, including a surprise Leader update in 2022.
The news coincides with the departure of not one but two major employees at the studio.
Jake Solomon, the Creative Developer for XCOM and Midnight Suns, is leaving Firaxis after 23 years. “I loved designing tactical turn-based games,” he said in a statement on Twitter, “but it’s time for other, smarter people to push the space forward.”
Additionally, Firaxis Studio Head Steve Martin is leaving the company. “After 27 years and 32+ game releases, I am leaving Firaxis Games as its Studio Head,” Martin said. “I am tremendously grateful for the opportunity to have championed and led the work of such a talented group of people for the past couple of decades at the greatest studio in the world. I am proud of the legacy of games Firaxis has created and its reputation in the industry.
I look forward to cheering on Firaxis in its next chapter. Stay Civilized!”
One wonders if the announcement of a new Civ game helps soften the blow of the studio losing two long-term developers.
Firaxis’s most recent release, Midnight Suns, is enjoying a free-to-play weekend on Steam. It runs until February 19th at 10 AM PT. Unfortunately, despite critical acclaim, the game hasn’t been successful on the sales charts.
