Firaxis Games

Firaxis Games

Type	Subsidiary of 2K Games
Industry	Video game industry Interactive entertainment
Founded	Hunt Valley, Maryland, United States (1996)
Headquarters	Sparks, Maryland, United States
Key people	Sid Meier, co-founder and director of creative development Jeff Briggs, co-founder and former CEO Brian Reynolds, co-founder
Products	Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Civilization series (2001-present) Sid Meier's Pirates! XCOM: Enemy Unknown (See complete products listing)
Owners	Take-Two Interactive
Employees	~120
Parent	2K Games
Website	http://www.firaxis.com/

Firaxis Games is an American video game developer founded in 1996 by Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs, and Brian Reynolds upon leaving MicroProse. Now a wholly owned subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, the company is best known for its Civilization series of games, though it has had notable success with other titles as well. Firaxis is based in Sparks, Maryland; Sid Meier continues to lead creative efforts there.

History

Firaxis Games' former headquarters in Hunt Valley, Maryland in 2008

Since 1997, Firaxis has released several PC games, including Sid Meier's Gettysburg! and Sid Meier's Antietam!, based on their namesake famous American Civil War battles, and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, a space colonization game taking place in the Alpha Centauri star system. In early 2000, co-founder Brian Reynolds parted with Firaxis to form his new studio, Big Huge Games. Firaxis Games then went on to release Sid Meier's SimGolf, a golf course building/management game. Perhaps their most popular releases have been Civilization III, and later Civilization IV, sequels to Meier's original Civilization game. In November 2004, Firaxis released Sid Meier's Pirates!, a remake of Meier's classic 1987 game of the same name. An Xbox version of the game was released in 2005 and a PSP version (developed by Full Fat) was released in 2007. Civilization IV started production in late 2003 and was released in 2005. Civilization Revolution, a console-only version of their popular Civilization series, was released in 2008.

On November 7, 2005, Take-Two Interactive announced that it was acquiring Firaxis. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but according to the SEC filing it amounted for US$26.7 million in cash, stock, and development advances, with almost US$11.3 million of that figure coming in the form of possible considerations based on future product sales. The company was consolidated with PopTop Software in March 2006, the resultant combined studio to be headed up by Sid Meier.

Jeff Briggs assumed the role of Chairman in April 2006 and left the company completely in November. In April 2007, Soren Johnson left the company and joined Electronic Arts to work on Spore with Lead Designer Will Wright. Johnson was formerly a key person for Firaxis, acting as co-designer for Civilization III and later Lead Designer on Civilization IV.

In September 2009, the studio moved a few miles, from Hunt Valley, Maryland to Sparks, Maryland.

Games

Firaxis' titles are frequently prefixed with Sid Meier's name, a practice continued from Meier's earlier games at Microprose.

Year	Game	Publisher	Platform(s)
			Win	Mac	Lin	Xbox	NDS	X360	Wii	PS3	PSP	iOS	WP	OnLive	Android
1997	Sid Meier's Gettysburg!	Electronic Arts	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
1998	Sid Meier's Antietam!	Electronic Arts	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
1999	Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri	Electronic Arts	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
1999	Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire	Electronic Arts	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
2001	Sid Meier's Civilization III	Infogrames	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
2002	Sid Meier's Civilization III: Play the World	Infogrames	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
2002	Sid Meier's SimGolf	Electronic Arts	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
2003	Sid Meier's Civilization III: Conquests	Atari Inc.	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
2004	Sid Meier's Pirates!	Atari Inc.	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
2005	Sid Meier's Civilization IV	2K Games	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
2006	Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords	2K Games	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
2006	Sid Meier's Railroads!	2K Games	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
2007	Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword	2K Games	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
2008	Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution	2K Games	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
2008	Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization	2K Games	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
2010	Sid Meier's Civilization V	2K Games	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
2012	Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods & Kings	2K Games	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
2012	XCOM: Enemy Unknown	2K Games	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
2013	Sid Meier's Civilization V: Brave New World	2K Games	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
2013	Haunted Hollow	2K Games	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
2013	Sid Meier's Ace Patrol	2K Games	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
2013	Sid Meier's Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies	2K Games	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
2013	XCOM: Enemy Within	2K Games	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes
2014	Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution 2	2K Games	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
2014	Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth	2K Games	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No

External links

• Official website
• Firaxis Games' profile at MobyGames