Video Games

Next Sid Meier’s Civilization game in development

Amidst some changes at Firaxis

Marco Wutz

Next Sid Meier’s Civilization game in development
Next Sid Meier’s Civilization game in development /

Publisher Take-Two Interactive and developer Firaxis Games have confirmed on February 17, 2023, that the next iteration of Sid Meier’s Civilization is being developed at the studio. Ed Beach, who spearheaded the development of Sid Meier’s Civilization VI as Creative Director, will serve in the same role for the next title.

This will be the first game of the popular turn-based strategy franchise to be produced under the aegis of Heather Hazen. The former COO of Firaxis has been promoted to Studio Head, having joined the company in 2020. She replaces Steve Martin, who leaves Firaxis after more than 25 years and over 30 released video games.

“I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to carry on the studio’s storied legacy, beginning with the announcement that Firaxis is in development on the next iteration of the legendary Civilization franchise”, declared Hazen.

Civilization 6 screenshot of the Great Library at dawn.
Firaxis

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI was released in 2016 and is currently receiving what fans had already speculated to be a final wave of DLC, adding a bunch of new leaders to the game.

She also announced continued support for Marvel’s Midnight Suns, one of 2022’s best strategy games.

That’s not the end of staff changes at Firaxis: Jake Solomon, former Creative Director of XCOM and Marvel’s Midnight Suns, is leaving the studio as well. He was with the developer for over 20 years.

His next destination is currently unknown, though from his statement it sounds like he’s done with tactical turn-based games for the time being. This genre has seen a great upswing in the last couple of years – in no small part because of Solomon’s work on XCOM.

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Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg

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