Firaxis, the studio behind "Civilization" and "XCOM," has suffered layoffs, Axios reported, as the company's roughly 30 developers have lost their jobs in order for Firaxis to "sharpen focus, improve efficiency, and align talent against its top priorities."

Naturally, Firaxis is not blaming the layoffs on anything in particular, but it is not hard to imagine what prompted the company to reconsider its focus and begin cutting costs. Marvel's "Midnight Suns" failed commercially because of its superhero stardom, and the studio recently lost one of its most high-profile creative leaders with the departure of Jake Solomon, who led the project.

As such, Phylaxis is looking to turn itself around after the disappointing performance of Midnight Sands, telling Axios that it "continues to focus on developing critically acclaimed video games. If one were to ask what a critically acclaimed video game is, it would probably be "Civilization 7. In February, after Solomon's departure became public, the studio released "Civilization 7" as a sort of consolation prize.

It's not surprising that Firaxis is focusing on something more sure to be a hit after Midnight Sun's performance, but it's a bit of a shame, with developers losing their jobs and Midnight Suns being a great game. 2022's GOTY runner-up and was a smart Fire Emblem-style take on the Marvel universe.

In his review of Marvel's Midnight Suns, Jeremy Peel gave the game an 88% score, praising it as "a frequently explored and endearingly silly game. What kind of world is this where a game that lets you take Blade on a picnic doesn't sell 50 trillion copies?