Jake Solomon, former long-time Firaxis designer and director who spearheaded Marvel’s Midnight Suns and was a lead designer on XCOM: Enemy Unknown, has announced he’s formed a new company following his departure from Firaxis last February. Midsummer Studios is a team consisting of veteran Firaxis and Maxis designers. 

Midsummer was founded by Solomon, who serves as CEO and creative director, game director Will Miller (also formerly of Firaxis), and COO/CFO Nelsie Birch, a newcomer to games with a 25-year career in financial and operations management. They’re joined by executive producer Grant Rodiek, an 18-year veteran of Maxis Studios and former producer/director on several entries of The Sims. In addition to them, the small team currently consists of six other designers.

The company’s debut game will be a next-gen life sim that, according to the press release, “emphasizes player-driven narratives, allowing communities to share memorable moments that grow out of the creativity of players themselves.” 

“The best stories in games are written by the players,” said Solomon in the press release. “At Midsummer we’re making a life sim focused on the drama of modern life, where our players will write meaningful stories just by playing, and then share those stories with the world.”

Midsummer has secured a $6 million investment with several partners and is focused on growing a sustainable studio that values the health and happiness of its employees.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has revealed in its latest financial earnings report it sold 20.8 million PlayStation 5 units in the fiscal year that ended on March 31. In doing so, Sony sold more than any fiscal year since the console's launch in November 2020. However, despite that achievement, Sony still fell short of its original PS5 sales target for this year, missing it by more than 4 million units. 

Originally targeting 25 million units for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, Sony sold 20.8 million, bringing the grand total up to 59 million, despite the 4 million units miss. As noted by VideoGamesChronicle, however, Sony revised that 25 million unit target in February to just 21 million; it still didn't hit that target, though, just narrowly missing the mark. 

At 59 million units, the PS5 is just behind the PlayStation 4's 60 million units at the same point in its life cycle. However, Tokyo-based video game analyst Serkan Toto told VGC that 20.8 million units sold is likely going to remain the peak for the PS5, and that this number would have been much lower if not for the release of Helldivers 2 in February, which is PlayStation's fastest-selling game ever after selling 12 million copies in 12 weeks. 

On the earnings call, Sony told investors to expect gaming sales to decrease in the fiscal year that just began (and ends March of next year) due to an expected decrease in console sales. There are also no major games from existing franchises releasing between now and then, according to the company. However, Sony says it still plans to release Concord, the new multiplayer online shooter IP from Firewalk Studios coming to PS5 and PC, this year. 

For more about PlayStation, read about how Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino have been named dual CEOs of the company, and then read Game Informer's Stellar Blade review. After that, check out Game Informer's Final Fantasy VII Rebirth review. 

How do you feel about the PlayStation 5 at this point in its lifecycle? Let us know in the comments below!