Midsummer Studios, Co‑Founded by Former Maxis and The Sims Director Grant Rodiek, Has Closed, Bringing Its Life‑Sim Game Development to an End.
Midsummer Studios, co-founded by former The Sims Director Grant Rodiek, has announced it is closing its doors in a statement from founder Jake Solomon. Solomon confirmed that they were working on a new Life Sim game, or more accurately, “life sims + Truman Show”, titled Burbank. A brief trailer for the canned project has also been shared, giving us a glimpse at what could have been. No details on why the studio is being closed have been announced as of the writing of this article. Grant Rodiek, Former lead on The Sims 4 (Who you may know as SimGuruGrant), left Maxis last year to join this new Studio and to work on Burbank.
Rodiek’s last project at Maxis was Project Rene as a Game Director. The game evolved since his last work in early 2024 into a mobile exclusive project, with Grant’s involvement in Burbank being the next project that lasted for almost two years.
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Midsummer Studios Statement of Closure
We built a studio, we made a game, and I’m really proud of both. Before we close the doors at Midsummer Studios I’d like to share a glimpse of Burbank, the game we poured our hearts into. It’s like “Life Sims + The Truman Show,” but it’s more than that. I believe people are storytellers, and I want them to share whatever stories and characters they can dream up. Burbank let’s you do that. We have moments playing this game where characters come alive in a way we’ve never experienced. And for an old game developer like me that’s special. What you’re about to see is definitely pre-alpha. But this game was a dream of mine, our team made it come true, so watch and dream with us.
We built a studio, we made a game, and I'm really proud of both. Before we close the doors at Midsummer Studios I'd like to share a glimpse of Burbank, the game we poured our hearts into.
— Jake Solomon (@SolomonJake) February 19, 2026
It's like "Life Sims + The Truman Show," but it's more than that. I believe people are… pic.twitter.com/RuYvDhdEZO
What Was Burbank?
Burbank was slated to be a cross between a Life Sim Game and The Truman Show, allowing players to direct their own TV show, choose a cast, define a plot, and upgrade cast abilities. It seems as though this was somewhat of a spiritual successor to Lionhead Studios’ The Movies. The actual Life Sim Game elements involve the personal lives of your cast, and how they interact and build relationships with fellow cast members.
AI Confirmation Statement
Solomon followed up the post with a statement confirming that Artificial intelligence was used for some aspects of gameplay within Burbank, all artwork was created by a dedicated art team, and they had no intention of ever replacing human creatives with AI.
Contrary to this statement, the trailer does, however, seem to confirm that they were using AI-generated voice models to voice the characters, replacing hard-working voice actors who would have otherwise been hired for their talents. It also seems the writing in the game is generated from user-defined prompts, generating responses as part of the in-world TV show. It seems as though this would lead to some bizarre and rather nonsensical responses.
What are your thoughts on Burbank? Let us know in the comments below, and stay tuned to Sims Community for all the latest on upcoming (or cancelled) Life Sim Games!
Gosh, is that difficult for the game industry to understand that they just have to recreate what was done in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 but with improvements?? Why the h*ll they waste all of their money and time making things in ways that not a single player asked for, just to put AI on it and then cancel the game because obviously it went to sh**?!
I never heard of this till just now. Must’ve been a real stinker, plus this guy was part of the problem with The Sims 4 being such a downgrade. So nothing of value was lost. We still have Paralives to look forward to.
They probably had to use AI voice models because the text itself would be AI generated too. I don’t think it would be possible for human voice actors to voice every single one of the millions of word combinations AI could come up with, and I think that’s another thing studios need to think about before jumping into AI-generated scripts for game characters.
I, for one, am quite upset about the loss of engaging somehow with Turtle Fight Clubs.
Technically they weren’t replacing voice actors. Voice actors simply couldn’t provide VO for all possible dialogue the AI could generate. So…a little disingenuous. IF it was possible for a voice actor to provide the same service, I get it, but in this case you couldn’t make this game using a voice actor without stripping out it’s primary hook.
lol Grant Rodiek.