Take Two will publish a new XCOM videogame, with development duties assigned to 2K Marin, the team behind the hit BioShock 2 release of earlier this year, more precisely to its Australian branch. Actual details on the new project are limited, but we know that the new title will be a first person shooter and that the main character will be a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent which discovers the alien threat to Earth and will lead the defence.
The problem with the announcement is that it talks little and quite obliquely about fundamental elements of the old X-COM, like strategic planning, research, character recruitment and progression. A lot of fans of the old 90's franchise are reacting quite nervously to the announcement of
XCOM, scared that the reboot will keep just the name and create another soulless shooting gallery. Some are even questions why such a revered name from the history of gaming has been dragged out now when a lot of players have little familiarity with it and those who do are likely to react with mixed feelings at the best of time.
This raises quite an interesting question: should there be a point when videogame franchise names are actually retired, before they are abandoned because of the poor quality of late releases? Doom is probably dead (at least for a while; in videogame, like in comic books no one actually ever disappears for good), but it took an awful third installment to put it under.
Publishers and developers are interested in taking over franchises which have name recognition amongst the public, believing that launching something with a name which is slightly familiar is better than putting out a new videogame with an entirely new name. Also courting controversy, like the one building around XCOM, about a new game serves as a sort of free publicity which can also help sales later, especially if the game proves to be actually good when it's launched.
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