Several developers known for their work on the XCOM franchise recently founded a new studio focused on strategy games. The company is being named Bit Reactor. While they have not yet revealed any games, the founders claim to have several different titles in the works.
“Bit Reactor is a new independent AAA video game studio founded by a team of veteran developers with a history and passion for revolutionizing player experiences,” the company says. “We believe in a balanced approach to development where rock solid gameplay works in harmony with deep storytelling, immersive presentation, and high production values to create genre defining games.”
“While we are already hard at work on our first title, the crew at Bit Reactor is also focused on creating a ‘team first’ environment where creativity and passion are valued. We believe that the collective is stronger than any one individual and that a highly collaborative process paired with experimentation are the key ingredients to making truly innovative games.”
Bit Reactor plans to “define the future of turn-based tactics games by weaving in the high-end production values, riveting storytelling, and innovative design for a best-in-class gameplay experience.” The company is dedicated to ushering in a “new era of games that blur the line between strategy and action.”
“As game genres of all types see refreshed takes in this new generation of technology, one thing is clear in that turn-based tactics games have been greatly overlooked and have an enormous amount of room for innovation,” Chief Executive Officer Greg Foertsch said. “We have a very team oriented culture and we’ve assembled an amazing group of talented, experienced, and dedicated game developers to inject rich storytelling, immersive presentation, and rock solid game mechanics to give this genre its rightful time to shine.” He noted that a “golden age of turn-based games is upon us.”
Bit Reactor was founded by veterans of the XCOM franchise. The team is being led by Foertsch, but includes Piero Macgowan, Hector Antunez, Stephanie Gitlin, and Kevin Schultz. The studio “already has unannounced titles in development and is actively recruiting experienced developers for multiple programming, design, and creative roles.”
The person behind many of the games in the XCOM franchise, Jake Solomon, expressed his confidence in Foertsch, saying that whatever the designer “and his team makes will be great, I know from experience."