2K defends XCOM's first-person shooter reboot

2K Game's decision to transform the classic turn-based strategy series XCOM into a first person shooter understandably left fans wondering what the studio was smoking when it sat down to plan the 2012 reboot.

[lazertroy]

The game looks amazing to me.

[EVILDEAD360]

People were skeptical of Fallout 3 when it was in development but alas history was made. Hopefully we have the same kind of success story for Xcom

Evil

[LeftPawedFox]

Yeppers

[VampiricDragon]

fallout was still an rpg at the end of the day.

This game is a shooter with nothing to do with xcom and slapped the name on a game of a different genre

This isnt xcom in ANY way

[Neckbear]

"but alas history was made"

You ARE aware Fallout 3 is considered by many as "Babby's first Fallout", "Worst Fallout ever" and "New Vegas is better, at least it is a REAL Fallout game", right?

Critical and economical success proved nothing but the first nickname right- most people who love Fallout 3 haven't even played other games in the franchise. It screwed with lore, presented some stupid setting, and changed Fallout from a Post Nuclear Role Playing Game that explored social recovery in a nuclear fallout with some intriguing, dark humor and brilliantly written dialogues, as well as incredible role-playing to "Press VATS to win" and "Storyline? Wuzzat? HAVE MORE BLAND SETTINGS!" and my favorite- "A LONE Wanderer with companions. Durr".

I really can't believe you're bringing up Fallout 3 as an example, you're just proving the naysayers' point further.

[MAJ0R]

this isn't just a reboot, it's an entirely different game with the name XCOM

[Baka-akaB]

seriously fallout 3 is a poor example when it's not making the unanimity among fallout fans to begin with , and would be actually an argument against Xcom new version .

So what if fallout 3 sold ? No one is disputing that Xcom will probably sell way better as a fps , just that it is a cheap tactic and might not be worthy of the ip .

[dragonyght]

they doing a pretty good job.

[Garethvk]

What I saw at E3 was great but I did worry about micro management in combat. We have a full write up on it here.

[dark-hollow]

well... look at fallout 3.

[Gamerfans]

definitely keeping an eye out for this one.

[ExPresident]

Trash.

He says:

“The ‘90s generation of gamers all love XCOM and we own the IP, so we thought OK, what do we do with it? Every studio we had wanted to do it and each one had its own spin on it. But the problem was that turn-based strategy games were no longer the hottest thing on planet Earth. But this is not just a commercial thing – strategy games are just not contemporary,” he explained.

The key thing here is to him its not popular and therefor its not a cash cow and the cash cow now is FPS so lets make another. How about make a great game instead of something thats already out there.

The lack of base management and inability to control a full squad of soldiers in a battle already has me hating anything about this 'reboot'. Thankfully a real fan is trying to bring the game back here: http://www.xenonauts.com/

So in short, screw you 2K, I'll give my money to the people making Xenonauts.

[solar]

the FPS genre is now popular on consoles, RTS's are not. the reboot of the Fallout series proved that taking a RTS and making it a mainstream product, ie: FPS, they can make money on the name. sad.

:(

[iceman2885]

Just FYI, X-Com is not an RTS...

[VampiricDragon]

So every game should be a fps now because its popular in the US? Bullshit

RTS are popular.

And fallout was an rpg and remained an rpg

DONT CHANGE GENRES ON SERIES THAT DONT NEED IT.

This feels like more of a generic shooter they knew was terrible so they slapped on a classic name to make money

[Baka-akaB]

The "rts arent cool anymore" argument falls even more flat , when most X-com titles arent even real time strategy to begin with , but turn based .

That's the kind of folks some are defending here , guys that dont even know about the franchise , and yet insist they will do it justice

[iceman2885]

I understand their reasoning, but I myself would argue that a well made X-Com tactical strategy game would be enough to make it a hot game and sell well.

Sure FPS is all the rage now, but if you make a game well enough and it's a well known brand, it will sell.

On another note, it's a shame though that more people don't try tactical strategy games, they are so much fun and require a thinking aspect that other genre's lack.

[Pintheshadows]

I would respect them much more if they worked hard to bring the Xcom formula into the modern age.

This suggests they found it to hard and went "oh well, FPS it is". I will be avoiding it. It doesn't even look that good.

Why couldn't they have looked at Valkyria Chronicles and said well that seems to work very well. Maybe we could do something like that.

I wish I had a development studio.

[iceman2885]

I agree with you 100%. But on the other hand, I think the problem is they DID look at Valkryia Chronicles, which everyone who played and reviewed it said was a GREAT game, and when they looked at it they saw that the sales just weren't there.

Look at sales figures, crappy FPS's that can't hold Valkryia Chronicles jock ratings and gameplay-wise, yields double to triple the sales of VC.

So what is a company supposed to do, after all they are in a business, and sadly, ratings don't always translate into money. I wish it did, but it doesn't.

Until a majority of gamers as a whole remove their heads from the butts and start buying good games, I feel this is a trend that continue (making more FPS over all other genre's combined basically).

[Apotheosize]

Chess is too contemporary nowadays, lets make it a shooter. You dont win by reading your opponent, planning moves ahead of time or trying to out maneuver your opponent, but just by shooting at the King

[BeastlyRig]

I am not surprised because they can't sell a strategy game on consoles..

[hazelamy]

i'll tell you what they were thinking,

cod=fps=$$$=cha ching

fps+generic=no$$$

another game's good name+generic+fps-established genre=$$$=cha ching

that's exactly the same formula that brought us shadowrun and killed fasa studios.

square used a slightly tweeked formula for front mission evolved.