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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteMidsummer Studios launched in May 2024 with a plan to make a life sim about modern-life drama and stories players created through play. The studio later closed: on February 19, 2026, co-founder Jake Solomon announced its shutdown and shared pre-alpha footage of Burbank, the canceled game. It was never released, and the available reporting does not establish a definitive reason for the closure.
What was Midsummer Studios?
Midsummer Studios was an independent game studio founded by Jake Solomon, Will Miller and Nelsie Birch. Solomon and Miller had worked at Firaxis; Birch joined as the company’s COO and CFO. The studio announced its launch on May 14, 2024, saying it had raised $6 million in funding in a round led by Transcend Fund, with Tirta Ventures, Betaworks Ventures, 1 Up Ventures, F4 Fund, Krafton and Day Zero Productions also participating. Midsummer’s launch announcement described the funding and team.
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Solomon had spent 23 years at Firaxis, working on XCOM and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Miller had spent 16 years there, including work on Civilization: Beyond Earth and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Grant Rodiek, who had spent 18 years at Maxis as a producer and director on The Sims games and expansions, joined Midsummer. Game Developer’s launch coverage reported Rodiek’s move.
What game was the studio making?
Midsummer’s proposed debut was a life simulation game centered on contemporary-life drama and player-driven stories. Solomon described the concept as a small-town soap-opera generator: the studio wanted players’ decisions and play to produce meaningful narratives they could share with a community. In the launch announcement, he put the premise this way: “The best stories in games are written by the players.”
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In a contemporaneous interview, Solomon discussed keeping the team small, building a community and using Early Access. Those were plans described around the studio’s launch, not features or release commitments that reached a finished game. Rock Paper Shotgun’s interview covered the early concept.
The idea was distinct in emphasis, not a documented set of shipped mechanics: Midsummer foregrounded guided story generation and player-created narratives. Life sims can also emphasize sandbox freedom, character customization, building tools or community-created content, but the launch material does not establish how Burbank would have balanced those elements in a finished release.
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What happened to Midsummer Studios and Burbank?
On February 19, 2026, Solomon announced that Midsummer Studios would close. He also shared a two-minute glimpse of Burbank, described in coverage as the studio’s canceled life sim. Solomon called the footage “definitely pre-alpha” and characterized the game as “Life Sims + The Truman Show.” The clip offers a look at an unfinished project, not a playable release or a representative view of completed features. PC Gamer’s report quoted his closure announcement and described the footage.
The game was canceled before release, so there is no Midsummer version of Burbank to buy or play. Solomon said, “We built a studio, we made a game, and I’m really proud of both.” The available reporting confirms the closure and cancellation but does not verify a definitive cause; it would be speculation to attribute the shutdown to a particular funding problem.
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Why did the studio’s launch attract attention?
The project brought together experience associated with two recognizable game series: Solomon and Miller’s work at Firaxis and Rodiek’s long tenure at Maxis on The Sims. Its pitch also aimed at a particular kind of life sim: less a promise of a specific checklist of features than an ambition to make everyday decisions generate stories worth sharing. That combination made the 2024 launch notable, but the canceled pre-alpha project cannot be judged as a finished game.
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