Inside Irrational's Cancelled XCOM First-Person Shooter

From the earliest days of their time under 2K, Bioshock developer Irrational Games worked on a reboot of Microprose's XCOM series. For several years and over various iterations the team would develop it into an FPS game alongside 2K Australia (formerly Irrational Australia) and 2K Marin. Despite this, in the aftermath several studios would be closed and the project would be reworked into The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. 0:00 Intro 0:45 Part One: Atlas & Apollo 5:39 Part Two: Foo Fighter 7:53 Part Three: Xenoshock 15:05 Part Four: Enemy Within 19:27 Part Five: From Novato With Love SOURCES: Schreier, Jason. “Project Icarus” and “The Case of the Missing Studio.” Press Reset, 2021, pp. 45 – 73 and pp. 101–129 https://bookshop.org/p/books/press-re... PC Gamer - Irrational Devs Look Back at Their XCOM FPS https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/... Polygon Retrospective - The Many Faces of XCOM Declassified https://www.polygon.com/features/2013... IGN -The Evolution of The Bureau https://www.ign.com/videos/the-evolut... Developer Diary - Art    • The Bureau: XCOM Declassified Developer Di...   The Bureau Interview - Eurogamer    • The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - EXCLUSIVE ...   How XCOM Got Its name https://www.polygon.com/2021/3/9/2231... The History of XCOM https://mcvuk.com/business-news/media... Polygon Retrospective - Firaxis, Jake Solomon and XCOM Enemy Unknown https://www.polygon.com/features/2013... OXM XCOM Cover Story https://library.gamehistory.org/repos... XCOM Announcement https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xco... Bioshock Development https://www.eurogamer.net/the-true-st... History of Irrational https://www.pcgamer.com/the-story-of-... Purchased by 2K (Firaxis purchased a few months prior) https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-pl... Formation of Irrational Aus https://web.archive.org/web/200102031... Ken Levine Profile https://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-e... Ken Levine Games Radar/Edge Career Retrospective https://www.gamesradar.com/games/bios... Gamespot - System Shock 2 Retrospective https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sys... Infogrammes sells Civ, XCOM to 2K https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-pl... Rock Paper Shotgun, Beyond Civilization https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/beyo... https://web.archive.org/web/201305310... Irrational gets 2K Rebrand https://www.gamesindustry.biz/irratio... 2K Marin Now In Charge of Bioshock https://www.gamesindustry.biz/zelnick... Bioshock 2 Developer Closed https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/sour... Cloud Chamber Games https://www.eurogamer.net/bioshock-in... Bioshock 2 Development https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/... 2K Australia Closed https://web.archive.org/web/201802190... E3 2011 Trailer    • XCOM FPS E3 2011 trailer   E3 2011 Presentation    • XCOM First Person Prototype (The beta vers...   E3 2010 Giant Bomb Interview    • E3 2010: XCOM Interview   IGN XCOM Roundtable    • Game Scoop! - XCOM vs. XCOM   XCOM Returns: https://www.wired.com/2010/04/xcom/ XCOM Wired Impression https://web.archive.org/web/201503252... Spoony and Angry Joe Video    • Spoony One - E3 2010 Coverage - Day 2, Deu...   The Ray Charles Quote https://mcvuk.com/business-news/inter... Get in touch here:   / luckstatevan     / luckstatevan