After Poor Initial Sales ‘Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ Developer Firaxis Lays Off Numerous Employees
John F. Trent
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A new report claims that Marvel’s Midnight Suns and Civilization developer Firaxis laid off around 30 employees following poor sales results for the Marvel game, which released in December.
Wolverine (Steve Blum) prepares to unleash hell in Marvel’s Midnight Suns (2022), Firaxis Games
Axios’ Stephen Totilo reports Firaxis “has laid off about 30 developers, a source familiar with the studio tells Axios.”
He added a representative for Firaxis publisher 2k Games informed him that the lay offs were made due to “a sharpening of focus, enhancements of efficiencies, and an alignment of our talent against our highest priorities.”
Venom as depicted in Marvel’s Midnight Suns (2022), Firaxis
RELATED: ‘Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ Fails To Make Sales Impact In First Month
In January, early sales data points indicated the game was a poor seller. Games Industry reported the game failed to crack the into the top 100 games sold in the United Kingdom.
The outlet noted, “Other releases such as PGA Tour 23, The Callisto Protocol, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII: Reunion, Ghostwire Tokyo, Evil Dead: The Game, Rainbow Six Extraction, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Two Point Campus, Sniper Elite 5, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, Stray and A Plague Tale: Requiem all finished outside of the Top 100.”
Morbius as depicted in Marvel’s Midnight Suns (2022), Firaxis
The game also failed to crack the top 10 downloads from the PlayStation Store for PlayStation 5 games in the United States in December, the month the game released. Instead it placed in 14th behind games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which originally released in 2015, and Grand Theft Auto V, which originally released in 2014.
The game didn’t even chart in the top 20 downloads from the PlayStation Store for PlayStation 5 games in Europe.
PlayStation Store December 2022 Top PlayStation 5 Downloads via PlayStation Blog
The game did not chart on PlayStation Store’s Top PlayStation 4 download charts in both the United States and Europe.
PlayStation Store December 2022 Top PlayStation 4 Downloads via PlayStation Blog
By January 2023 the game had completely fallen off the PlayStation 5 charts, and it did not chart on the PlayStation 4 charts.
PlayStation Store January 2023 Top PlayStation 5 Downloads via PlayStation Blog
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick also reportedly told Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier that the game was a “commercial flop” and put the blame on the release window.
Schreier claimed Zelnick said, “it’s possible the release window wasn’t perfect.”
Jason Schreier Twitter
Take-Two Interactive also announced in February that Jake Solomon, the Creative Director of both Marvel’s Midnight Suns and the XCOM franchise would be departing the studio.
A press release noted, “Solomon leaves after over two decades at Firaxis Games, and was instrumental in revitalizing the tactical turn-based genre with the releases of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM 2, and Marvel’s Midnight Suns.”
Solomon said, “I’m embarking on a new chapter; however, I am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to fulfill my dreams at Firaxis Games. I’m thankful to everyone who enjoyed XCOM and Marvel’s Midnight Suns, and to my development and publishing partners who helped bring those games to life.”
The press release also noted that “longtime Firaxis Studios Head, Steve Martin, will be leaving the studio after more than 25 years with the organization.” Martin was replaced by Firaxis Games Chief Operating Officer Heather Hazen who was promoted to Studio Head.
Iron Man, Captain Marvel, and Magik face off against HYDRA goons via Marvel’s Midnight Suns (2022), 2K
In Take-Two’s fiscal third quarter report it noted that its “largest contributors to GAAP net revenue were NBA 2K23 and NBA 2K22; Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V; Empires & Puzzles; Toon Blast, Rollic’s hyper-casual portfolio; Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online; Words With Friends; Merge Dragons!; and Toy Blast.
Noticeably, Marvel’s Midnight Suns was not on the list. Zelnick also said during the earnings call, “We are seeing softness in terms of consumer demand, particularly for console products and recurrent consumer spending related to console products.”
The Hunter, Captain Marvel, and Sister Grimm look over a HYDRA base via Marvel’s Midnight Suns (2022), 2K
The company had previously cancelled a planned Switch version of the game earlier this month noting, “The Nintendo Switch version of Marvel’s Midnight Suns will no longer be offered as part of updated plans.”
What do you make of this new report that Firaxis is laying off numerous of its employees?
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