https://www.midsummerstudios.com/

"Our lives are stories. Highs and lows, humor and drama, every life is a story worth telling. At Midsummer we are making a next-gen life simulation that lets you write your story and share it with the world."

No posts or any other communication since May 2024, and they aren't hiring either.
The website is still up. They have a contact form.

'Dear Midsummer, are you still there?'.

Sigh, I mean it isn't impossible they are all beavering away crafting their Gilmore Girlsesque world full of drama but somehow I doubt it.
I did wonder if Rod Humble might have moved over there, after announcing joining a 'secret project' and then disappearing last year (no evidence just speculation).

I guess the reality is that most games don't make it past the initial press launch, sad but the most likely scenario at this point?

If I remember right, this is a team of experienced AAA developers. In AAA development, you don't typically reveal much until it's nearly finished or you have something significant to show. Inzoi definitely didn't go this route but it should have. They were WAY to eager to put out a half finished project when they have the money and resources to develop that game in house, testing and all.

Anyway, I wouldn't pay too much attention to this game yet. It's likely still cooking and they have nothing significant to show off publicly. In fact, it's best to keep their cards close given the current situation with The Sims and Inzoi.

I'll be giving this one a hard pass should it ever turn into something.

Grant Rodiek, a former Sims producer is on this team. As petty as it is, I have zero tolerance for any more gaslighting and nonsense from that man. According to Grant, all the problems that were discussed with TS4 while he was lead producer were all player-created problems as if players were coding all the spaghetti code.

Does anyone have a valid Linkdin account? They could check out Grant Rodiek's profile and see what it says about current employment.
I get sent to twirly security check hell when I try to view it.

I didn't sign in, but it looks to me like he's still at this studio.

I also don't plan to get this game because of Grant's involvement even though the concept pitched forward by the xcom dev seeemd interesting. But Grant's idea of a fun life sim is not for me. Either way, the quiet atmosphere right now is not an indication of progress.

I think I missed most of the Grant drama, I took a major excursion out of the sims for many years.
Having a look around he does seem like a bit of a berk.
The concept of the game was interesting though, especially the idea of having drama creating stories.

Grant's "famous" last words on what was Twitter in 2014 will forever remain in the halls of the sims community.

What he told the community was "If you don't buy Sims 4, there won't be a Sims 5."

Sims 4 developer warns there won't be a Sims 5 if this one doesn't sell

https://www.pcgamer.com/sims-4-deve...ne-doesnt-sell/

Technically, he wasn't wrong. If Sims 4 didn't make money, there would be no money to make Sims 5. However, because Grant was known for being a jerk and a bully, his saying this came off as more of a threat than a technical point.

Not long after that, somebody from EA banned him from using his Twitter work account. He'd still yap about work on his personal account occasionally, but eventually that stopped at least for awhile. I avoid Twitter and all of that like the plague, so I don't know if he still does that or not.

Ironically,10 years later, Maxis and lower EA brass [ Laura Miele] announced there won't be a Sims 5, at all. Whether Grant knew this before he left EA last year or not will always remain speculation. We'll never know why Grant left and what he knew before he left.

EA Isn't Considering The Sims 5 Right Now Because 'It's Not Player-Friendly' To Expect Fans To 'Give Up All of the Content That You’ve Purchased Over the Years'

https://www.ign.com/articles/ea-isn...-over-the-years

On a unrelated side note about former EA employees and their egos: Doug Bowser is a former EA employee. When he left EA, he went on to be president of Nintendo America. He also loved to run his mouth and finger wag at Nintendo fans when they had less than stellar things to say about { fill in the blank}. Lately a lot of decisions that Nintendo has been making have been under scrutiny. Charging people $10.00 for a tutorial on how to use the controllers for the Swtich 2 is just one of many examples.

Bowser announced his retirement from Nintendo recently. He'll be leaving Nintendo in December.

There is no connection between Grant and Doug, but they do have something in common which is their attitudes towards customers and fans of Sims and or Nintendo. The God- like complexes that come from these people are beyond ridiculous. It is like these people forget that if nobody bought their stuff, they wouldn't have a job.

I’ve been wondering the same thing about Midsummer Studios. It’s odd that their site is still up but there’s been total silence for over a year. Usually, if a project is still alive, you at least see some small dev update or job posting.

Well that was a surprise, saw this on reddit, https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeSimula...nt=share_button
They Ate'nt Dead (sic)
More news coming soon, apparently.

Grant Rodiek lives!

Not to yuck on anybodies yum, but how does a group of people become "recognized as a game changer" when they haven't shown any of their work?

Also there is this...



I'm guessing the person that wrote this reply has no idea who Grant is along with his reputation. With any luck Grant has grown up a bit since leaving Maxis, but I'm not holding my breath. It seems like once a person has worked for EA, they maintain a Godzilla-sized ego regardless of where they are employed.

Grant Rodiek. The "Point Farmer". Enough said.

(Don't believe me? Read the book )

I recently learned Grant has officially left Midsummer Studios so, who knows if this game was quietly cancelled or moved on without him. If it's the latter, I'm suddenly interested!

Oh dear, I wonder what he's doing now then?

I heard he moved to 2K games

I did some poking around and found a blog that Grant and his wife keep online. I only skimmed the entry I linked to. It creeps me out that they refer to themselves in the third person.

Grant is now working out of Austin Texas. They're getting ready to make the move from Baltimore to Texas.

https://neverseenthisbefore.substac...-business-trips

Grant has a link to 2K on his LinkedIn account. I'm guessing that is where he is now working since 2K is out of Austin.

So it's official, the studio is seemingly shuttering. They released footage of pre-alpha and is... not great. Certainly is not in the same genre as The Sims or Paralives.

It's more like that movie where the main character is on a set his whole life and doesn't realize it.... it's like a tv show. Or like a Telltale game but it "generates" differently every time. It appears the game was heavily using AI too, which is a shame.

Here's a link to the preview video and the Gematsu article:
https://www.gematsu.com/2026/02/mid...os-to-shut-down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Y0rgh-o_A

I wouldn't have played this if Grant continued to be involved, but seeing it now, I wouldn't have played it since it's not really the kind of game I'm looking for.

"You're the first person who's made me feel like I can be myself since I came back from the Marines." And than that karate chop. Amazing.

We'll never play it. What a shame.

In regards to the Midsummer studio closing...

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/forme...dsummer-studios

It is interesting how there was a tangent about using AI, but the characters in the picture used for the article look like they were created with AI.

Well, it looks terrible. The dialogue is terrible. And it seems like it didn't know what it wanted to be.
I thought it would be interesting to simulate being a TV producer, writing scripts and then enact/create the TV episode. But this was half-baked in every way.
Back to Sims3 and Sims2 I go. Awaiting Paralives Early Access Release.

It's funny to see this because recent mass-produced TV shows mostly are really like these 'procedurally generated' shows like how this game describes them.

What a shame. The game concept wasn't what I expected from the initial publicity.
I have a feeling it could have become very repetitive quite quickly.

I feel like they all got together to brainstorm a new idea to sell instead of a game they wanted to make in order to play it themselves. Or maybe I just don't get it and they were excited for this. idk

Sorry it didn't work out for them though.