Greg Foertsch, the art director for the highly successful XCOM 2, wants to bring the genre back to life with his studio.

Bit Reactor is Foertsch’s new studio. He is its co-founder. Foertsch previously worked at Firaxis; in addition to XCOM mentioned above, it is also known for the Civilization series. The new team will develop turn-based tactical games. Foertsch is not optimistic about this genre: he believes it is a genre that the games industry has almost abandoned in recent years.

Foertsch told Gamesindustry, “As game genres of all-types see refreshed takes in this new generation of technology, one thing is evident in that turn-based tactic games have significantly been overlooked and have an enormous amount of room for innovation. We have a very team-oriented culture. We’ve assembled a fantastic group of talented, experienced and dedicated game developers to inject rich storytelling, immersive presentation and rock-solid game mechanics to give this genre its appropriate time to shine—a golden age of turn-based games is upon us.

They have something in the works, but no details have been announced yet (no details are being released), but Foertsch’s statement suggests they are planning something a little more mainstream. “There are ways to tell stories and convey information that doesn’t require a wall of text. That’s what we’re focused on—bringing that to the genre and blurring that line between what a strategy game is and what an action game is,” he added.

He says, for example, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and Gears Tactics look different on the surface, yet underneath, they both have the same DNA. “If you lead with story and immersion, I think you can find ways just to make a great game and not just make a strategy game,” Foertsch said. Best of luck to him.

Source: PCGamer