Jake Solomon's Midsummer Studios Closes Doors, Canceling Life Sim Burbank
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
Midsummer Studios and its ambitious life simulation game Burbank have been canceled by industry veteran Jake Solomon, though an early gameplay look has been shared with the public.
Midsummer Studios, founded by veteran game designer Jake Solomon after his departure from Firaxis Games, is officially shutting down. The studio's ambitious debut project, Burbank, has been canceled alongside the closure. Solomon, widely known for his work on XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Marvel's Midnight Suns, originally set out to build a fresh take on the life simulation genre by blending traditional mechanics with concepts inspired by The Truman Show. While the project is dead, Solomon released an unvarnished three-minute pre-alpha gameplay clip to give the community a glimpse of what the team was building.
The released footage shows a title that was clearly still early in development, featuring rough facial animations and an unfinished user interface. However, the core design concept was fascinating. Burbank leaned heavily into generative technology for memory, reasoning, and speech to let players drop custom characters into unscripted narratives. Solomon was careful to clarify that the underlying tech was strictly used for character behavior rather than replacing human artists, noting that all visual assets were created by traditional developers.
The closure highlights the immense difficulty of breaking the simulation genre monopoly. Burbank is just the latest high profile casualty in the space, following Paradox Interactive's cancellation of Life By You in mid-2024. For a genre that players have wanted fresh competition in for years, development cycles remain punishingly risky. Even with veteran leadership and unique ideas, funding and market pressures can cut projects short before they ever reach early access, leaving the community to wonder when a true challenger to The Sims will finally stick. Original reporting comes via Polygon.
Tags: Midsummer Studios, Jake Solomon, Life Sim, Burbank, Polygon
Original article: Polygon