A new studio built by XCOM studio veterans aims to "blur the line between strategy and action" games.
Bit Reactor founder Greg Foertsch's most recent credits include working as art director on XCOM 2, though his history with Firaxis stretches all the way back to its beginnings in 1996. The studio recently unveiled its official website and social media channels, and while it isn't ready to share what its first project will be, Foertsch outlined some of the studio's ambitions in a GamesIndustry.biz interview.
The short version is that those ambitions are very, very big. Foertsch expects Bit Reactor to "go head to head with Halo or whoever is out there, just like we did in 2012" with XCOM. He believes strategy games still have a massive amount of untapped potential to appeal to players of all stripes, not just the 4X hardcore.
"There are ways to tell stories and convey information that doesn't require a wall of text," Foertsch said. "That's what we're focused on – bringing that to the genre, and really blurring that line between what a strategy game is and what an action game is."
Foertsch pointed to the examples of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and Gears Tactics as examples of how flexible strategy games can be.
"If you lead with story and immersion, I think you can find ways to just make a great game and not just make a strategy game."
Though if you are looking for one right now, we'd be happy to point you toward our guide to the best strategy games.
