Interview: Gaining intel on XCOM 2 Collection for Switch

The XCOM 2 Collection arrives on the Nintendo Switch later this week and figured we needed to find out about more about the game. It’s the first time ever the series has been on a Nintendo system, so fans may not be familiar with it.

We were able to ask Jake Solomon who is the Creative Director for the XCOM Series a little about it, and how the Switch version came to be and what’s included.

XCOM hasn’t been on a Nintendo system ever before, can you give an elevator pitch about XCOM and what people may have played on Nintendo platforms before that’s similar? 

XCOM is a tactical strategy game in which you lead humanity in their efforts to fight off an alien takeover of Earth. XCOM 2 takes place 20 years after the first game where aliens rule Earth, building shining cities that promise a brilliant future for humanity on the surface while concealing a sinister agenda and eliminating all who dissent from their new order. You must lead the remaining XCOM forces to find a way to ignite a global resistance and eliminate the alien threat once and for all. 

Fans of other tactics games on Nintendo Switch will feel right at home with the XCOM 2 Collection and will discover what “that’s XCOM, baby” truly means!

Was there any worry in bringing XCOM 2 to Switch, instead of the XCOM: Enemy Unknown? Will we be missing out on any story?

We are of course big fans of XCOM: Enemy Unknown! That said, it has been a couple years since XCOM: Enemy Unknown was released back in 2012 and XCOM 2 has considerably more content for players to dive into. Thankfully, we have a great community that’s created a ton of material to help introduce players to the series, across story, gameplay, strategies and more.

From the time when the development kicked into gear, how long has the process taken to bring the game to the Switch? 

Our partners were able to wrap things up in about a year.

What did the team think about Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle? People say it’s a lot like XCOM so interested to hear your thoughts if you have any!

We’re really humbled any time someone compares a game to ours – I think it just goes to show how the tactics genre has really taken off! The fact that there is a Mario-Rabbids crossover, let alone in the genre of a tactics game, is wild and awesome.

How did the team respond to the challenge of bringing the game to Switch and were there any big challenges that they encountered? 

Playing on a controller is very different from playing with a mouse and keyboard. When we first brought XCOM 2 to consoles, we spent a lot of time making sure we nailed the controller feel – moving units, targeting, taking cover and more all had to be intuitive and easy to do. Thankfully, that meant we didn’t need to reinvent the wheel for the Nintendo Switch; instead, it was all about making sure the UI works because players will be playing on both the smaller portable screen and on their TVs, so readability is critical.

While XCOM is a slower-paced series, there are still some frenetic moments included in the game, how was the challenge of bringing the game as a whole to the Switch platform? 

That pacing is essentially XCOM in a nutshell – planning, execution and either success or chaos. If we’re talking about whether there was any worry if XCOM’s gameplay would translate well to the Nintendo Switch, the answer is not at all. If anything, we think being able to take XCOM on the go with the XCOM 2 Collection is going to be really attractive to players who’ve never played the game before as well as franchise veterans!

It was mentioned that all of the DLC would be included with the release, were there any discussions on adding more content to the game?

No, XCOM 2 is basically packed to the brim at this point.

XCOM Chimera Squad recently released on PC, might Switch gamers be able to look forward to that in the future?

We don’t have any current plans to bring XCOM: Chimera Squad to console.

Thanks to Jake for answering our questions!

XCOM 2 Collection is out on May 29th for the Nintendo Switch, in Australia, it’s only available digitally on the eShop but is available physically in other regions.