Editing Sid Meier (section)

===Firaxis Games===
MicroProse, after it had become a [[public company]], merged with [[Spectrum HoloByte]] in 1993 under Spectrum's name, with Spectrum as the operating company. As a cost-cutting measure, Spectrum cut many of the jobs at MicroProse in 1996 and consolidated much of their operations. Meier, along with MicroProse employees [[Jeff Briggs]] and [[Brian Reynolds (game designer)|Brian Reynolds]], were dissastified with these decisions, and opted to leave the company to form [[Firaxis Games]] in 1997.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/1997/07/25/sid.html |title=Sid starts up. Again |date=July 25, 1997 |website=[[Forbes]] |access-date=September 26, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201045342/https://www.forbes.com/1997/07/25/sid.html#363c71b41b9a |archive-date=December 1, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Sid Meier Leaves Microprose |magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|issue=20|publisher=[[Imagine Media]] |date=August 1996|page=25}}</ref>

Firaxis continued to develop the same type of strategy games that Meier had developed at MicroProse, many of which are follow-ups to those titles, such as the new ''Civilization'' games and a remake of [[Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004 video game)|''Sid Meier's Pirates!'']] (2004). In 1996, he was granted a patent for a "System for Real-Time Music Composition and Synthesis" used in [[C.P.U. Bach]].<ref>{{Cite patent |inventor-last=Meier |inventor-first=Sidney K. |inventor2-last=Briggs |inventor2-first=Jeffery L. |inventorlink2=Jeff Briggs |publication-date= |issue-date=March 5, 1996 |title=System for Real-Time Music Composition and Synthesis |country-code=US |postscript=<!--None--> |description=A system for automatically generating musical compositions on demand one after another without duplication ... in a variety of genres and forms so that concerts based on generated compositions will have a varied mix of pieces incorporated therein. |patent-number=5496962}}</ref> ''[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]'' listed him in their "75 Most Important People in the Games Industry of 1995", calling him "a prolific developer of some of the best games in [MicroProse]'s catalog".<ref>{{cite journal|title=75 Power Players|journal=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|issue=11|publisher=[[Imagine Media]]|date=November 1995|page=51}}</ref>

According to Firaxis employees, Meier has been constantly developing a special game engine since around 1996 which he uses to [[prototype]] his game ideas and which he has not shared with anyone else. Dennis Shirk, a senior producer, said in 2016 that Meier would sometimes arrive at the office and announce he had a new game prototype for the company to try out and see if it could be developed further. The engine is believed by Firaxis employees to be based on his original ''Civilization'' source, but expanded over the years with updates that he or other engineers will write for him.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.pcgamesn.com/civilization-vi/sid-meier-civ-6 | title = Sid Meier prototypes his ideas on a 20-year-old engine only he knows how to use | first = Kirk | last= McKeand |date = June 15, 2016 | access-date = April 28, 2017 | work = [[PCGamesN]] }}</ref>

Meier worked with a team on a [[dinosaur]]-themed game starting in early 2000, but announced in an online development diary in 2001 that the game had been shelved. Despite trying various approaches, including [[turn-based]] and [[Real-time strategy|real-time]] gameplay, he said he found no way to make the concept fun enough. In 2005, he said, "We've been nonstop busy making other games over the past several years, so the dinosaur game remains on the shelf. However, I do love the idea of a dinosaur game and would like to revisit it when I have some time."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.firaxis.com/community/asksid_archive.php?n_id=1 |title=Ask Sid |date=August 2005 |website=Firaxis |access-date=February 5, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060326030256/http://www.firaxis.com/community/asksid_archive.php?n_id=1 |archive-date=March 26, 2006}}</ref>

An autobiography, ''Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games'', was published on September 8, 2020, by [[W. W. Norton & Company]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-08/sid-meier-s-memoir-recounts-the-life-of-legendary-civilization-creator?srnd=technology-vp | title = Creator of 'Civilization' Looks Back at One of the Longest Careers in the Industry | first= Jason | last =Schreier | date = September 8, 2020 | access-date = September 8, 2020 | work = [[Bloomberg News]] }}</ref>