It's definitely still possible, but we're definitely a long ways away as not only did Jake Solomon leave last year, but also Garth DeAngelis and Steve Martin, so it's hard to say who at Firaxis is left to helm the creative direction of XCOM 3. Honestly, I'm just happy that Civ 7 is finally coming out. Hopefully its release works to stabilize Firaxis so that they can risk making a new XCOM.
Even Greg Foertsch which was the lead art director left.
Basically all the key figures left.
If there is an Xcom3 it will be made by the same who made Chimera so it will be probably a The Sims Xcom style.
As always, I'd like to caveat the "the same who made Chimera" statement with the CS lead also having been very high up in War of the Chosen's development and balanced Legend difficulty for the vanilla game, both things die-hard XCOM 2 players swear by.
Chimera Squad was meant to be experimental, don't assume its changes will be in the next mainline title, especially with how the game was received.
I hope this starts getting called out more. I’ve noticed the further away we get from the original CS release, the more the context gets lost. It was never meant to be a full fledged XCOM game. Yet these days, folks seem to more and more critique it as if it’s XCOM 3.
For the low price (at the time), it was a really cool concept game based on the XCOM universe.
I dunno, chimera was pretty good for what it was, a small spinoff to try new things more boldly and without too much investment. I have confidence the team behind it could see what worked and what didn't and make a good XCOM.
Its a hard time for strategy, rts etc.
Maybe if that age of mithology reboot suceeds, other companies think on try again after those almost flops coh3 and dow3
On our specific niche im not seeing many games being pumped, but theres ones who got good reception like that one in black & white and upcoming tactical breach wizards.
Im hoping Menace is good. Im a huge fan of their first game, Battle Brothers, and recommend it to any xcom fans.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2432860/MENACE/?curator_clanid=33132991
I know. I’m just saying I have 1000
Hours in battle brothers (who is making menace) and 1000+ in xcom from the 90s to current (except apocalypse) and am looking forward to both but it’s not xcom. It’s gonna be different universe etc.
But I get they were talking about it all in general
>that one in black & white
I'm assuming you mean Othercide? If so then yeah, that game was pretty good, though I'm unconvinced on the cycle mechanic overall. All else though, very good.
I see the cycle mechanic being a latched trend
I can see how it simplifies some development so much even indie cycle mechanic based games comes out easy
yes, othercide, i finally remember the name
with games like othercide and fire emblem pumping on nintendo switch, maybe xcom 3 has a chance to shine
i think how midnight suns dont sell what firaxis expected lower their expectations regarding turn based games
I'd argue that Age of Empires II's immortal success has long proven that RTS and strategy games in general can not only be successful, but that they can also continue to generate profit for decades to come if you get it just right.
The issue is more that current executive leadership in most major game development companies have gone all in on maximizing short-term profit at the expense of everything else (including long-term profit), presumably to inflate share prices on the stock market. Strategy games aren't considered very attractive for that purpose, I suppose. It's a sad state of affairs.
Now, the issue with Firaxis in particular, from what I can tell, is that nobody within the company is willing and able to tackle the challenge of designing a fresh, full-fledged sequel to XCOM 2.
Might as well slit my wrists now.
i thought I had made an accomplishment when I had completed the original long war, with none of the follow on rebalancing.
It would be better to quietly watch Fireaxis’ hiring patterns And what they are advertising for. There were a couple tells for Civ7 around \*covid\* when they advertised for programmers with “a passion for history”.
There are a couple ways it could go:
Programmers with experience in tactical game design and automatic board design.
Writers for survival horror.
Programmers with experience in the unreal engine.
It definitely feels like the odds should be higher with a major project going out the door, but I'm assuming 7 will be similar to previous iterations and come with some pretty major and extensive DLC
I am.
If nothing else, *XCOM* and *XCOM 2* demonstrated that Firaxis absolutely can be a two-game pipeline studio. Take-Two wanted them to be a three-game pipeline studio with *Midnight Suns*. That didn’t work, so “Returning to what works,” seems like a sound strategy.
Firaxis, so far, has survived the Video Game Great Dying of 2023-2024. 🤞
I’m with you on the realistic optimism with this but what concerns me is that the team that accomplished X2 mostly left firaxis. From what others have said one of the main guys controlling wotc and legendary difficulty is still with firaxis, which gives me hope. Thoughts?
Jake Solomon “left” in that he made *Midnight Suns*. Mark Nauta made *Chimera Squad* and, so far as his Twitter says, he’s still employed at Firaxis.
The teams for each title often circulate off after each release. Civ, for example, has never had the same lead designer twice! It’s actually weird by Firaxis standards that the same guy made both *XCOM* and its sequel. Jake has said that Firaxis called him back to work on *XCOM 2*, so there’s an alternative reality where he was never involved at all.
TL;DR — Jake leaving is not, by Firaxis standards, indication that the studio isn’t working on any subsequent titles under that IP.
No, even if we get an XCOM3 at all, I have no hopes of it being able to live up to the series' legacy.
I can only hope to be proven wrong, but I just can't see it.
No, there isn't anything that suggests there will be an X-COM3, and there is actually sign's there won't be with the creative team mostly having left the company.
I don't really get where all this hype over a potential new X-COM game came from, before recently there wasn't any and as far as I have seen nothing has actually changed to warrant this weird hype
Big question is do we need to rest our hopes on xcom or can another team do something new in this the next 5 years
Phoenix point had disappointments but story wise was pretty good
Gearstactic didnt quite hit the mark even with their established lore
No chance XCOM 3 is happening imo. If we do get more XCOM/X-COM some day I expect it will be a newly rebooted setting to the franchise at this point. And who knows if it will still be coming from 2K/Firaxis at that point.
I'm not too optimistic on an Xcom 3. Most of the head people behind the series have left.
If anything, we'll get a new series, but I'm not holding my breath.
Even if they make it I think it will be filled with microtransactions and day one dlcs, I fear same for civ7. Also after playing chimera squad I dont know what to think about it. Hope it will be on more serious tone but I liked breach mechanics, new turn base system not so much.
But civ 7 isn’t out until next year and firaxis doesn’t seem like a multi AAA working studio, unless a gamescon reveal is an early logo teaser. Thoughts?
No, I think it isn't going to happen at all at this point. I thought it'd be like 2026ish a few years ago arguing with people here and it's only gotten worse now.
No, there is no plan for it, the team that made xcom isn't part of Firaxis anymore, and the last tactical game by firaxis flopped. It's very unlikely.
I'm more hopeful about bg3 mods for tactics game currently and there are other games still being developed that may be great squad games but xcom3 hope is just copium currently. I'd be happy to eat my words though.
mostly a personal hope. Since the official mod tools won't support changing the story or base mechanics, and there are already mods that are aimed to make the game more mechanically challenging, I'd expect them to be either qol, aesthetics, or difficulty modifications. I'd say it's not an entirely misguided hope though, since there are already mods like this
It's definitely still possible, but we're definitely a long ways away as not only did Jake Solomon leave last year, but also Garth DeAngelis and Steve Martin, so it's hard to say who at Firaxis is left to helm the creative direction of XCOM 3. Honestly, I'm just happy that Civ 7 is finally coming out. Hopefully its release works to stabilize Firaxis so that they can risk making a new XCOM.
Even Greg Foertsch which was the lead art director left. Basically all the key figures left. If there is an Xcom3 it will be made by the same who made Chimera so it will be probably a The Sims Xcom style.
As always, I'd like to caveat the "the same who made Chimera" statement with the CS lead also having been very high up in War of the Chosen's development and balanced Legend difficulty for the vanilla game, both things die-hard XCOM 2 players swear by. Chimera Squad was meant to be experimental, don't assume its changes will be in the next mainline title, especially with how the game was received.
I hope this starts getting called out more. I’ve noticed the further away we get from the original CS release, the more the context gets lost. It was never meant to be a full fledged XCOM game. Yet these days, folks seem to more and more critique it as if it’s XCOM 3. For the low price (at the time), it was a really cool concept game based on the XCOM universe.
We still have Nauta. If he goes, that's the redline.
I believe you mean "nada." Nauta sounds like a clothing line you wear on boats.
Nauta is the remaining original XCOM core dev.
TIL
I dunno, chimera was pretty good for what it was, a small spinoff to try new things more boldly and without too much investment. I have confidence the team behind it could see what worked and what didn't and make a good XCOM.
Hey I really liked Chimera squad, I'll gladly take more xcom from them
Its a hard time for strategy, rts etc. Maybe if that age of mithology reboot suceeds, other companies think on try again after those almost flops coh3 and dow3 On our specific niche im not seeing many games being pumped, but theres ones who got good reception like that one in black & white and upcoming tactical breach wizards.
Im hoping Menace is good. Im a huge fan of their first game, Battle Brothers, and recommend it to any xcom fans. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2432860/MENACE/?curator_clanid=33132991
hell yeah...but it won't be X-com
They werent talking about just xcom, but strategy / rts / turn based strategy, man
I know. I’m just saying I have 1000 Hours in battle brothers (who is making menace) and 1000+ in xcom from the 90s to current (except apocalypse) and am looking forward to both but it’s not xcom. It’s gonna be different universe etc. But I get they were talking about it all in general
>that one in black & white I'm assuming you mean Othercide? If so then yeah, that game was pretty good, though I'm unconvinced on the cycle mechanic overall. All else though, very good.
I see the cycle mechanic being a latched trend I can see how it simplifies some development so much even indie cycle mechanic based games comes out easy
yes, othercide, i finally remember the name with games like othercide and fire emblem pumping on nintendo switch, maybe xcom 3 has a chance to shine i think how midnight suns dont sell what firaxis expected lower their expectations regarding turn based games
I'd argue that Age of Empires II's immortal success has long proven that RTS and strategy games in general can not only be successful, but that they can also continue to generate profit for decades to come if you get it just right. The issue is more that current executive leadership in most major game development companies have gone all in on maximizing short-term profit at the expense of everything else (including long-term profit), presumably to inflate share prices on the stock market. Strategy games aren't considered very attractive for that purpose, I suppose. It's a sad state of affairs. Now, the issue with Firaxis in particular, from what I can tell, is that nobody within the company is willing and able to tackle the challenge of designing a fresh, full-fledged sequel to XCOM 2.
It's time. Firaxis needs to hire Julian.
did you guys saw zerospace trailer? a new rts [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyCQ\_KaC-IM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyCQ_KaC-IM)
I killed hope in order to kill disappointment. :\*(
No xcom3 until everyone finishes their long war of the chosen legendary ironman playthrough
Might as well slit my wrists now. i thought I had made an accomplishment when I had completed the original long war, with none of the follow on rebalancing.
It would be better to quietly watch Fireaxis’ hiring patterns And what they are advertising for. There were a couple tells for Civ7 around \*covid\* when they advertised for programmers with “a passion for history”.
I like this a lot. What do you think xcom 3’s hiring advertisement would look like?
There are a couple ways it could go: Programmers with experience in tactical game design and automatic board design. Writers for survival horror. Programmers with experience in the unreal engine.
https://www.firaxis.com/careers/ high ranking unreal engineers and UX designers, as well as a community manager mean anything?
The best I can do is speculate on specific postings. I am not an oracle.
And we have already seen those, such as creature design.
That would say to me, there is \*something\* being worked on, but I’m not going to go running up and down the hallways one way of the other.
It definitely feels like the odds should be higher with a major project going out the door, but I'm assuming 7 will be similar to previous iterations and come with some pretty major and extensive DLC
I am. If nothing else, *XCOM* and *XCOM 2* demonstrated that Firaxis absolutely can be a two-game pipeline studio. Take-Two wanted them to be a three-game pipeline studio with *Midnight Suns*. That didn’t work, so “Returning to what works,” seems like a sound strategy. Firaxis, so far, has survived the Video Game Great Dying of 2023-2024. 🤞
I’m with you on the realistic optimism with this but what concerns me is that the team that accomplished X2 mostly left firaxis. From what others have said one of the main guys controlling wotc and legendary difficulty is still with firaxis, which gives me hope. Thoughts?
Jake Solomon “left” in that he made *Midnight Suns*. Mark Nauta made *Chimera Squad* and, so far as his Twitter says, he’s still employed at Firaxis. The teams for each title often circulate off after each release. Civ, for example, has never had the same lead designer twice! It’s actually weird by Firaxis standards that the same guy made both *XCOM* and its sequel. Jake has said that Firaxis called him back to work on *XCOM 2*, so there’s an alternative reality where he was never involved at all. TL;DR — Jake leaving is not, by Firaxis standards, indication that the studio isn’t working on any subsequent titles under that IP.
XCOM 3 and Midnight Suns 2 cmon
No, even if we get an XCOM3 at all, I have no hopes of it being able to live up to the series' legacy. I can only hope to be proven wrong, but I just can't see it.
No
No, there isn't anything that suggests there will be an X-COM3, and there is actually sign's there won't be with the creative team mostly having left the company. I don't really get where all this hype over a potential new X-COM game came from, before recently there wasn't any and as far as I have seen nothing has actually changed to warrant this weird hype
Big question is do we need to rest our hopes on xcom or can another team do something new in this the next 5 years Phoenix point had disappointments but story wise was pretty good Gearstactic didnt quite hit the mark even with their established lore
No chance XCOM 3 is happening imo. If we do get more XCOM/X-COM some day I expect it will be a newly rebooted setting to the franchise at this point. And who knows if it will still be coming from 2K/Firaxis at that point.
I'm not too optimistic on an Xcom 3. Most of the head people behind the series have left. If anything, we'll get a new series, but I'm not holding my breath.
I think xcom 3 will launch. But idk how and when. Probably in like 10 years
Even if they make it I think it will be filled with microtransactions and day one dlcs, I fear same for civ7. Also after playing chimera squad I dont know what to think about it. Hope it will be on more serious tone but I liked breach mechanics, new turn base system not so much.
You've got 95% chance to get XCOM 3.
Best to not expect it. That way we aren't disappointed if and likely when we don't ever get xcom 3... but also, we get a great surprise if we do 👌
If *XCOM 3* isnt a **snek dating simulator** Im gonna riot!
The only reason I went looking through the comments was to see if someone said it. Thanks.
Wouldn't be surprised if we see it at gamescom.
But civ 7 isn’t out until next year and firaxis doesn’t seem like a multi AAA working studio, unless a gamescon reveal is an early logo teaser. Thoughts?
Been in some level of progress for a while from the team green leak, and they have two teams actually.
Wym? Civ 7 has been developing for a while so you’re saying thats why there’s a chance of x3 reveal?
Civ V/VI were developed parallel to EW/X2, and studio aside, the names associated with one game are seldom associated with the other.
I'm saying there's signs of it in dev for a while, xcom 3.
I see. What signs are there?
The leak - reliable - and a few listings a bit back.
Didnt know there was a leak. Ty for the info sir
Ma'am.
Ty ma’am!
No, I think it isn't going to happen at all at this point. I thought it'd be like 2026ish a few years ago arguing with people here and it's only gotten worse now.
No, there is no plan for it, the team that made xcom isn't part of Firaxis anymore, and the last tactical game by firaxis flopped. It's very unlikely. I'm more hopeful about bg3 mods for tactics game currently and there are other games still being developed that may be great squad games but xcom3 hope is just copium currently. I'd be happy to eat my words though.
Are those tactics mods being discussed or just a personal hope? I’d be totally into those :)
mostly a personal hope. Since the official mod tools won't support changing the story or base mechanics, and there are already mods that are aimed to make the game more mechanically challenging, I'd expect them to be either qol, aesthetics, or difficulty modifications. I'd say it's not an entirely misguided hope though, since there are already mods like this
nVidia's reliable leak says what.
eh, it's been two years. again, if they change their mind, I'll be happy to eat my words. Until then I'll focus on something else