Developers from Marvel’s Midnight Suns and X-COM are being laid off from Firaxis Games, due to the former not meeting financial expectations.
The news of firings at Firaxis is hugely disappointing to many fans. Not only do many consider the Marvel tactics game to one of the best superhero games ever made, but the studios’ brilliant X-COM games have been iconic strategy titles for two generations.
According to a report from Axios, Firaxis Games laid off its work force by 30 employees. While this was attributed to gaming companies making cuts across the industry, the layoffs come after the studios’ past game failed to make a sales splash.
When asked why employees from the Marvel’s Midnight Suns studio were made, a Firaxis representative said it was due to “sharpening of focus, enhancements of efficiencies, and an alignment of our talent against our highest priorities." The studio remains focused on developing critically acclaimed video games," they also said.
Prior to the layoffs, 2K Games announced that the cancellation of a Nintendo Switch port of Midnight Suns, though the PS4 and Xbox One versions were still released. Firaxis also released all of the DLC planned for this game, adding Deadpool, Morbius, Storm, and Venom to the playable roster.
It really is a shame that Marvel’s Midnight Suns didn’t do well, as the game was fairly different when compared to other superhero titles. You rarely see tactical superhero games anymore as most of them are usually action or open-world titles. The game also had some fun social sim-style elements that amused many fans, though you couldn’t make out with Wolverine.
Marvel games aren’t going to end anytime soon, as we just saw an impressive gameplay showcase for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Insomniac Games are also working on Marvel’s Wolverine for the PlayStation 5, though details on that game have been pretty slim. Overall, this isn’t going to be the end of superhero video games, especially with EA working on an Iron Man title.
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Fans can pick up Marvel’s Midnight Suns right now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC.