Firaxis is working on a new Civilization game with a new head of studio

Game developer Firaxis is working on the next Civilization game with a new studio head; Jake Solomon is leaving the game maker after 23 years. There are no images of the new Civilization yet, but it is known that Heather Hazen is taking over the helm.

Not only is there no footage of the presumed Civilization VII, but a release date mentions the developer in the press release not yet either. Civilization VI turns seven years old this year, and in the meantime Firaxis produced XCOM: Chimera Squad and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Civilization VI received two major expansions and several smaller DLCs, including the recent Leader Pass.

If requested by VGC 2K denies that Solomon’s departure was related to the presumably disappointing sales figures of Marvel’s Midnight Suns. That game was already reasonably discounted shortly after its release. 2K CEO Strauss Zelnick also stated that the release date for the game may have been misplaced and that the game may therefore not have sold well. He did express confidence in the sales figures in the longer term. Firaxis says it wants to provide this game with additional content.

Solomon worked at Firaxis for 23 years. When he started at the studio, he worked on Civilization III as a programmer. In his parting he thanks game designer Sid Meier for what he learned from him, but also his colleagues and parent company 2K. He goes on to say that it’s time for ‘other, smarter people to further develop tactical turn-based games’. He does not reveal what he is going to do now, but he says he is going after a ‘new dream’.

His successor, Heather Hazen, was an executive producer on Fortnite at Epic Games and previously worked at casual games developer PopCap. There she was executive producer for Bejeweled, executive producer of Live Services and Games General Manager. She has been with Firaxis for 2.5 years as Chief Operating Officer.