Firaxis Games

Firaxis Games is an American development studio founded in 1996, known primarily for its co-founder, industry legend Sid Meier. Since 2005, Firaxis Games has been working under 2K Games, owned by Take-Two Interactive. Its headquarters are located in Sparks, Baltimore County, Maryland. Meier himself serves as the creative director of Firaxis Games. Although he has never been the company's president, he personally supervises most of its projects.

With the exception of Sid Meier's Pirates! from 2004, Firaxis Games' extensive portfolio consists almost entirely of strategy games - a distinction directly tied to Sid Meier, who is regarded as one of the most influential creators in the history of video games for his contributions to the genre. Almost from the very beginning of the studio's existence, its flagship brand has been the Sid Meier's Civilization series of turn-based strategy games, which includes both full, historically themed installments and numerous spin-off titles, such as the mobile-console sub-series Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution, as well as the sci-fi games Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth, and Sid Meier's Starships.

The studio's second major franchise is XCOM, acquired in 2012. It carries on the tradition of one of the most beloved strategy series from the 1990s. Among the games created by Firaxis Games over the years, special attention goes to the Civil War titles Sid Meier's Gettysburg and Sid Meier's Antietam - the studio's only real-time strategy games - as well as two economic strategy games: Sid Meier's SimGolf and Sid Meier's Railroads!.

History

Prehistory

Firaxis Games was founded in 1996 in Hunt Valley, Maryland, by three former employees of the legendary MicroProse: Brian Reynolds, Jeff Briggs, and Sid Meier, the company's co-founder and widely regarded as the godfather of modern computer games. Before founding their own studio, the three developers were responsible for creating classics such as Railroad Tycoon and the first two installments of the iconic Civilization series. The name Firaxis Games comes from the words "fiery" and "axis", meant to show the team's energetic and fast-paced approach to making games.

Early in its history, Firaxis Games joined forces with Electronic Arts to develop Sid Meier's projects. The first game they released, Sid Meier's Gettysburg in 1997, took a different direction from Meier's past work by focusing on the American Civil War. 1999 saw the release of Sid Meier's Antietam, a game in a similar style, as well as Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, which adapted the established Civilization gameplay mechanics to a science fiction setting. For Electronic Arts, the studio also developed Sid Meier's SimGolf, released in 2002, which stands out as an unusual entry in Meier's portfolio.

The return of Civilization and Pirates

In early 2000, one of Firaxis Games' co-founders, Brian Reynolds, left the studio to start his own development company, Big Huge Games. A year later, Firaxis started working with Infogrames, which had purchased the Civilization series from MicroProse, a company that was nearly bankrupt. After Reynolds departed, the studio made the third full game in Meier's most famous series and added two official expansions over the next few years. In 2004, another MicroProse classic, Sid Meier's Pirates!, was remastered. It was the studio's first game to be released on consoles and was later brought to mobile devices. On November 7th, 2005, Take-Two Interactive announced its acquisition of Firaxis Games in a deal reportedly worth nearly $30 million, with an additional $10 million in potential earnings tied to future game sales. As a result, the studio became part of 2K Games, the company's publishing label.

In late 2005, Sid Meier's Civilization IV, which had been in development for some time, was released under the 2K Games label. The game was later supported with two official expansions and a standalone title, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (2008), a modern remake of the 1993 spin-off Sid Meier's Colonization. At the same time, Sid Meier's Railroads! (2006) was remastered, and in 2008, Firaxis developed the first console-only game in the Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution series. In March 2006, Take-Two Interactive acquired the development studios PopTop Software and Frog City Software - known for their work on the Tropico and Railroad Tycoon series - and integrated their employees into Firaxis Games. In November of the same year, the studio's second co-founder, Jeff Briggs, left Firaxis, and a few months later, another key member, Soren Johnson, departed to collaborate with Will Wright at EA Maxis on the development of Spore.

The return of the XCOM series

Firaxis Games relocated to Sparks, near Hunt Valley, in September 2009, and remains there to this day. With a slightly refreshed team, the studio completed and released the fifth installment of the Civilization series in 2010, followed by two official expansions over the next three years. During this period, Firaxis released the browser-based Civilization World and two entries in the casual strategy series Sid Meier's Ace Patrol. However, the 2012 release of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, a reboot of the classic series originally launched by MicroProse in 1994, came as a surprise to many. The game was a huge success, leading to a major expansion, XCOM: Enemy Within (2013), and an official sequel (2016). In 2014-2015, Firaxis Games released another science fiction spin-off of the Civilization franchise, Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth, along with Sid Meier's Starships, set in the same universe, and the mobile game Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution 2. In late 2016, the studio returned to its flagship series with the release of Sid Meier's Civilization VI. The game first appeared on PC, later expanding to consoles and mobile platforms. Over the next few years, Civilization VI was expanded with Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm.

In 2017, the XCOM series saw an expansion for its second installment, XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. In April 2020, however, Firaxis Games released a spin-off titled XCOM: Chimera Squad. Thanks to updated turn-based combat mechanics and a more dramatic visual style, this spin-off differed from the main entries in the series. Reviewers appreciated the new features, giving the game an average score of 77/100 on Metacritic, but players were far more critical, rating it only 47/100.

In May 2021, Take-Two Interactive announced its upcoming plans, including a new project from Firaxis Games. In August 2022, it was revealed that this new brand would take the form of Marvel's Midnight Suns. This tactical RPG lets players build a custom hero who joins forces with well-known heroes from the Marvel Universe. The game launched on December 2nd, 2022, to strong critical reception, with the PC edition averaging 83/100 on Metacritic.

In February 2023, it was revealed that both Jake Solomon - creative director of the studio's latest project - and longtime studio head Steve Martin would be departing Firaxis Games. The latter was replaced by Heather Hazen, the team's former COO. In May, layoffs hit the studio, reducing its workforce by 30 people. However, these disruptions did not seem to slow down Firaxis Games in any significant way. In June 2024, Sid Meier's Civilization VII was announced, with a planned release on both PC and consoles.