XCOM: Firaxis saved a brand "gone so badly awry", says creator

XCOM franchise creator Julian Gollop has praised Firaxis for rescuing the property from 2K's "schizophrenic approach" - and his own mistakes.

In a talk given at GDC 2013 and reported by PCGamesN, Gollop recounted the troubled development of the original turn-based tactics game, UFO: Enemy Unknown, and follow-up X-COM: Apocalypse.

Gollop said he made a lot of mistakes, and that many of the things gamers grew to love about the classic titles were things he actually considered flaws brought about by the messy production process.

Other developers went on to make X-COM branded games and spiritual successors, but eventually the property ended up with Take-Two Interactive.

“Take-Two had the same schizophrenic approach to the franchise that Microprose had," Gollop said, perhaps referring to the shooter reboot which was announced, went silent, was transformed, was delayed, and now appears to be resurfacing under an entirely different IP.

Happily, a hero turned up to champion the franchise, even if it did drop the much-loved hyphen from the name in the process.

"Firaxis saved the day,” Gollop said.

“They did a tremendous job creating something which was familiar but at the same time fresh. It is amazing that after 20 years a brand that had gone so badly awry was finally put right.”