🚀 go-pugleaf

I must admit to some mixed emotions when reading about X-com these
days. The original X-Com was coded and designed by myself and my
brother, with a couple of guys from MPS doing the artwork. It's great
to see the game become something of a cult classic after 15 years work
in the games industry, especially when MPS nearly canned the project a
couple of times. TFTD was done by MPS after licensing our engine.
Apocalypse was an extremly fraught development, suffering from some
kind of crisis of expectation. Towards the end of Apocalypse we sold
the entire rights to the X-Com Universe to MPS. I didn't expect them
to use the license with a space sim and first person shooter - but
then games publishers are somewhat mesmerised by technology these
days. Anyway, since we parted company with MPS it is unlikely that
they will be able or willing to produce anything similar to the
original. I would certainly like to do so, but this seems legally
impossible at the moment. 
It has been great to read all the comments and ideas for X-Com, and
you can be assured that as developers we do look at what people are
saying. Publishers, however, are another matter.

On Wed, 23 Sep 1998 23:57:36 +0100, "Detonate"
<deto...@detonate.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>Boy, if this is the definitive view of MPS, then I guess were ****ed, to be
>blunt.
>
>It's really odd, being a customer and having no ability to say what you
>would like from a gaming company and games which have an excellent pedigree,
>but presented with something which 'consumers' will buy as it's the latest
>gee whizz technological piece of kit.
>
>Not that I'm knocking MPS, far from it, it's just that Mark took the trouble
>to make a statement which makes me feel... cheated.  It's the fact that
>there is no avenue to approach the subject as a consumer, to enter dialogue
>and discuss such a project - it appears a decision has been made and it's
>totally and utterly final.
>
>I can't figure this out - consumers say what they want - the company ignores
>them and produces a game they think we want!?  Is that how it really works
>in the gaming industry???  Or is it based more on market trends, for
>example?
>
>MPS - don't take this personally, but someone, somewhere in the company is
>making a serious error of judgement, if you think there is no revenue in
>producing another XCOM title based on the originals.
>
>What a total and utter waste of the XCOM name...
>
>Please excuse me, I have to mourn the loss of hope.
>
>Detonate
>
>Mark Rich <7133...@compuserve.com> wrote in message ...
>>Lee,
>>
>>The next game in the XCOM series will be Alliance due next year.
>>There are no plans to "remake" any of the old games in the series.
>>
>>Regards,
>>Mark Rich/MicroProse-Europe
>>(micropro...@compuserve.com)
>
>
>