Financial squeeze is still a great challenge in the game industry. Midsummer Studios, co-founded by former XCOM designer Jake Solomon, is shutting down. Solomon announced the news on social alongside a pre-alpha footage of their unreleased game titled Burbank.
“We built a studio, we made a game, and I’m really proud of both,” began the message posted on X. “Before we close the doors at Midsummer Studios I’d like to share a glimpse of Burbank, the game we poured our hearts into.”
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“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 let’s 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. What you’re about to see is definitely pre-alpha. But this game was a dream of mine, our team made it come true, so watch and dream with us.”
Midsummer Studios’ Burbank has characters that rely heavily on AI for memory and speech. Players can create their characters and throw them into any story they write. However, Solomon emphasized that the plan was not to replace humans.
“Our characters use AI for memory, reasoning, and speech,” Solomon wrote. “That’s what let’s 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.”
Midsummer Studios explored new technical territory to create Burbank
Solomon, ex-Firaxis lead designer Will Miller, alongside Nelsie Birch, founded Midsummer Studios in 2024. The studio raised $6 million in a funding round led by Transcend Fund. Other companies that participated in the funding round include Tirtra Ventures, Betaworks Ventures, 1 Up Ventures, F4 Fund, Krafton, and Day Zero Productions.
Midsummer Studios was headquartered in Hunt Valley. While they existed, their plan was to revitalize the Life Sim genre by empowering players to create and share meaningful stories through play. The message left on their LinkedIn page provides further context on what type of game Burbank was and the extent of AI use.
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“Over the past 3 years, Midsummer Studios set out to explore what happens when traditional game systems meet living, responsive AI characters,” began the message posted on LinkedIn. “We built an extraordinary team and created a project we’re deeply proud of: Burbank.”
“Along the way, we were fortunate to work with thoughtful, supportive investors who believed in the vision and gave us the freedom to pursue ambitious ideas. That trust made the work possible, and we’re sincerely grateful for it.”
Building Burbank pushed us into new creative and technical territory. There were moments when we saw characters truly live through stories shaped in real time — moments that reminded us why we make games in the first place.”
Nelsie Birch reacts to Midsummer Studios’ closure
Birch posted about the closure of Midsummer Studios, while hinting at the conditions that eventually led to the difficult decision. It appears the team hoped to get new funding after the seed fund. However, the deal stretched for too long.
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“3 years ago, I left a career that I had built up for 25 years to co-found a start-up game dev company with two incredibly talented people,” Birch wrote. “I sought this challenge to learn about a new industry, challenge myself professionally, and hopefully lead to future financial security. Today we are saying good-bye to our team after our Seed money could not be squeezed any longer and the deal we were working towards was delayed for too long.”
“The entire games industry, and venture funding that supported it, changed dramatically during this time. There is so much I have learned and can say about this experience, but for now I will say is that we were building something revolutionary. We had a lean, nimble and super talented team. I will share a video asset later of what was in progress and also tidbits of my takeaways for anyone interested. Midsummer Studios will remain one of my most challenging and prideful experiences. We shall see what challenge I am in for next….”
Based on the alpha footage of Burbank, do you think it is a game you would have loved to play? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
