Once upon a time there was a game. This game was one of the greats, essentially creating its own genre and setting the baseline for what other games of its ilk would be judged against. Time passed, however, and as technology advanced the game was left behind with no worthy successors. The game was XCOM: UFO Defense, and it remained one of the most widely-renowned games in the world, much less of its time.
Along came 2K Games with an idea. They would take XCOM and make a prequel game for it, and to assuage investors worried that no market existed for strategy games anymore, they would make the game a shooter instead. The response was immediate. Fans heard of a new XCOM and were universally excited by the prospect, and then heard it was to be a shooter and were universally dismayed. Many of them were vocal. “Don’t destroy XCOM!” “We want XCOM, not Call of Duty vs Aliens!”
2K was in a strange place. The unanimous outcry was a desire for a remade original, no one seemed to want a shooter for XCOM at all. A decision was made to appease the masses and improve reception for the shooter: XCOM would be remade in original form first. Firaxis was given the charge, and the fans waited anxiously with baited breath to see how it turned out.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown turned out fantastic.
The game made huge amounts of money and was at least nominated for virtually every game of the year award under the sun, and all seemed well. As time passed, however, people began to realize something. There was no news about the shooter 2K had originally wanted to make. Some began to suspect the success of the reboot had killed the less-desired shooter.
Now we can confirm the game was not, in fact, canceled. The title will be revealed soon, “within a matter of days” and once again fans wait with baited breath. We got our XCOM that we knew we wanted, now what will 2K’s vision look like?
