Jake Solomon, a decorated game designer known for his work at Firaxis on games like XCOM and Marvel Midnight Suns, has announced that his studio Midsummer is going to close. In doing so, he also shared a pre-alpha look at the “Life Sims + The Truman Show” game the studio was making, called Burbank.

Solomon didn’t elaborate on the reasons for closure in the statement he released on X. “We built a studio, we made a game, and I’m really proud of both,” he wrote. “Before we close the doors at Midsummer Studios I’d like to share a glimpse of Burbank, the game we poured our hearts into.”

Burbank seems to be a game about making TV shows with a cast of characters you can pick up and drop into various customisable situations. It reminds me a lot of Lionhead’s The Movies.

The Burbank trailer shows somewhat action-figure-like people leading dramatic lives in a small-town location, which you watch as though you would a soap opera on TV. The trailer then reveals that you’re the one directing it, choosing the characters who’ll be the stars and then adding a support cast from bundles of support cast characters. Then you choose a broad outline for the episode, establish character motivations and behaviour, and go on to unlock new cast abilities as you play.

The alluring part seems to be that you’re not totally in control, which means your actors and characters have minds of their own, so finding out what they’ll do when placed in certain situations becomes a key part of the game. You set their parameters and then watch to see what you’ve created.

Jake Solomon explained: “It’s like ‘Life Sims + The Truman Show’, but it’s more than that. I believe people are storytellers, and I want them to share whatever stories and characters they can dream up. Burbank lets you do that.

“We have moments playing this game where characters come alive in a way we’ve never experienced. And for an old game developer like me that’s special […] This game was a dream of mine, our team made it come true, so watch and dream with us.”

He later added: “Our characters use AI for memory, reasoning and speech. That’s what lets you create anyone you want and drop them in any story you write. But all of our art is created by our talented artists. We had no interest in replacing *any* developers with AI.”

That is the only other comment he made.

It’s a surprising announcement and it’s sad, and it’s also slightly strange in that it doesn’t unequivocally state that this game’s journey is over. The language used seems to suggest Burbank could live on, but if the studio is about to close, how could that be? Jake Solomon has given no previous indication the studio was in trouble. His last post on LinkedIn, made three months ago, had him saying he was “excited to share more about what we’re building soon”.

We last spoke to Solomon in 2024, a couple of years after Marvel’s Midnight Suns had charmed us, and after Solomon had left Firaxis to create his own studio and spin-up this new game idea. In that interview, he said Midsummer had been backed by venture capitalists and received funding from PUBG maker Krafton. I’m assuming that money has now run out. Solomon also talked more about the thinking behind Burbank, and the ‘create your own stories’ idea.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns was released in 2022. It’s a card-based, turn-based spin on creating your own Marvel superhero team – and Marvel superhero – and then saving the day. And very good it was too. “Great tactical fun nestled in a sweet-natured superhero dollhouse,” wrote Christian Donlan in our Marvel’s Midnight Suns review.