Turn-Based Strategy is Not in XCOM Designer’s Future
Jake Solomon’s legacy is irrevocably tied to Firaxis Studios – especially the legendary XCOM games produced with his help. Fans have been anxiously awaiting news of a possible XCOM 3. Solomon has made his position clear: he “[doesn’t] have anything more to say in that area”. Much discussion around XCOM 2 seems to verify this claim. Especially following the release of XCOM 2’s War of the Chosen DLC. Though people have refined the formula, it’s hard to imagine how the series, or even the genre, could evolve from there. If anyone can figure it out, fans argue, it’s Solomon – and he’s aiming for other genres now.
This information comes to us through a podcast interview, courtesy of My Perfect Console. There, Solomon says:
“After I made Midnight Suns I looked at, ‘ok, I’m going to make another turn-based strategy game, and am I excited about that?’ And I found that I wasn’t that excited about doing another turn-based strategy game, not because the genre isn’t amazing – it’s where I’ve spent my life – but I felt like I didn’t have anything more to say in that area,”
“So I started thinking, what would I do if I wasn’t making this? If I wasn’t making another turn-based strategy game at Firaxis? And I started to get excited… There are other things that excite me as a designer, and the idea of starting something new was really exciting to me.”
“I realised, as the company was changing, this was my opportunity to think about maybe I should make a change. If I’m ever going to do my own thing, which again Sid [Meier] had started multiple companies and I thought to myself, if I’m ever going to start my own company… I feel like I can do this, do a whole new thing and be completely in charge of it, and that was just too exciting for me.”