Garth Deangelis, the franchise lead behindMarvel’s Midnight Sunsand theXCOMfranchise, said farewell toFiraxis Gamesin a recent statement after working at the company for 14 years. Deangelis brought to life fans' heroes inMarvel’s Midnight Sunswith the game style of the older but cult classicXCOMseries. When working onMidnight SunsatFiraxis Games, Deangelis made sure not to just recreateXCOMwith Marvel skins but to keep the gameplay’s integrity while adding new elements.Firaxis Games was founded in 1996 and made a name for itself developing strategy games like theCivilizationseries. Deangelis began work with Firaxis in 2009 as a producer, and, in 2012, launchedXCOM: Enemy Unknown.XCOMchanged the turn-based strategy genrewith its perma-death and high-stakes situations. After commercial success,XCOM 2 wasreleased in 2016.RELATED:Midnight Suns Mod Gives Captain Marvel, Magik, and Nico New LooksDeangelis tweeted on January 9 that he’s leaving Firaxis after 14 years of working with the company and the dedicated teams behindXCOMandMarvel’s Midnight Suns. Deangelis changed RTS combat withXCOM’s movement and targeting, forcing players to take advantage of the terrain or be overrun. He quit after the release ofMidnight Suns, a new game that changes the standard formula.Midnight Suns’unique card-based combatdifferentiates the series fromXCOM, though it has a similar structure. It was Deangelis' final project with Firaxis, as he said in his post to the players, “All of this was for you.”
Deangelis clearly had a vision for turn-based strategy games that manifested itself into challenging combat and tough decision-making. The fact thatMidnight Sunsrecently releasedis not related to his leaving; Deangelis left Firaxis on good terms after a long and successful career. He could profit from developing his own projects, but it’s also possible he’d find work with another company rather than just quit the industry altogether.
Firaxis Games will miss Deangelis, but it could carry on creating fresh strategy games anddeveloping new heroes forMidnight Suns. However, Firaxis hasn’t made a comment on Deangelis leaving and hasn’t announced who will take his role at the studio yet. Deangelis' farewell tweet received many replies from others in the industry thanking him and wishing him luck. There’s no word yet on what games Firaxis is working on now. But whatever it chooses to work on first, players can likely expect more exciting things from Firaxis in the coming months.
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