Midnight Suns developer Firaxis hit with staff layoffs

Several developers at Firaxis Games announced they've been laid off from the XCOM studio. 

A spokesperson from Firaxis' parent company 2K told Game Developer that a "small number" were affected. But that wording is vague, given the apparent head count of 252 employees as seen on the developer's LinkedIn.

In that same brief statement, the spokesperson said the staff cuts are "a sharpening of focus, enhancements of efficiencies, and an alignment of our talent against our highest priorities.” They added that Firaxis "remains focused on developing critically acclaimed video games."

Firaxis' most recent game was Marvel's Midnight Suns, which released at the end of 2022. Though the game had a strong commercial reception, Take-Two has said it underperformed, even while expressing hope its sales performance could grow over time. 

Back in February, Midnight Suns director Jake Solomon and studio head Steve Martin announced their respective departures from the studio. Both men had worked at Firaxis for 20 years or so individually, and were key forces on recent titles such as Civilization VI and XCOM 2. 

Earlier in May, Firaxis announced its planned Nintendo Switch version of Midnight Suns had been canceled. It was previously delayed alongside the game's last-gen (read: PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) versions, which released this month. Midnight Suns recently released its fourth and final DLC pack.

Firaxis' immediate next project is a new entry in the Civilization series that was formally announced by COO Heather Hazen, who took over studio duties after Martin's leave. Along with that title, Hazen said the developer has "new creative projects for our teams" in the works.