Firaxis’ Jake Solomon Announces Departure From Studio

Jake Solomon, the director of Marvel’s Midnight Suns and the modern XCOM games, has announced his departure from Firaxis. 

Solomon has worked at Firaxis for 23 years and is best known as the lead designer of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and the director of XCOM 2, including its War of the Chosen expansion. He most recently directed Marvel’s Midnight Suns. 

In a statement posted to Twitter, Solomon doesn’t state a specific reason for his resignation but does tease his next project by stating, “My brain is on fire with a new dream. Time to go chase it.” Whether or not this dream keeps him in the game industry is a mystery for now. You can read his full statement below.

After 23 wonderful years, I’m moving on from Firaxis

I’m a big dreamer, and I fulfilled two lifelong dreams in making XCOM (and XCOM 2, and War of the Chosen) and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. I’m the luckiest kid who ever lived.

X-COM was my favorite game growing up; it’s why I’m a game developer. Marvel comics made me a dreamer, and those characters feel like my extended family.

I’m grateful to my Firaxis teammates, past and present, for making dreams into reality. Genuine love and gratitude. We did some real good stuff together.

I’m grateful to 2K for always believing in the dreams, and always supporting us with the time and resources needed to bring them to life.

And I’m so thankful to everyone who enjoyed XCOM and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. I’ve never taken this job for granted. Thank you for letting me do this job.

I loved designing tactical turn-based games, but it’s time for other, smarter people to push that space forward.

My brain is on fire with a new dream. Time to go chase it.

Jake

Some of our favorite memories of Jake’s time at Firaxis include this funny video of him visiting a game store to convince shoppers to buy XCOM 1. He was also a great sport on our Marvel’s Midnight Suns Rapid-Fire interview. You can read our review of his final project at Firaxis, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, here.