Sid Meier wants to expand XCOM: Enemy Unknown's appeal to action gamers

For classic strategy fans, the announcement of XCOM: Enemy Unknown was a breath of fresh air. Rather than take the series in a radical new direction (like its cousin, simply titled XCOM), Enemy Unknown pays homage to the older title. Apparently Firaxis feels the same way, and creative development head Sid Meier feels the game could potentially draw in different types of gamers.

"In our dreams we pull in strategy game players, we pull in action players, we pull in RPG players," Meier said.

"There are cool elements of all those gaming styles in XCOM, and they're mixed together in an interesting brew," Meier told Game Informer. "Our goal would be to really appeal to all those players, and to introduce them maybe to some gaming that they haven't played before. An action gamer might play the game for the action part and think, well strategy is pretty fun too. It's not trying to conform to a genre, but trying to find ways to bring this topic to life in the most fun and exciting way possible."

He also says the studio feels committed to doing right by the series, since so many in the Firaxis staff are fans of the original. "We have people here that love the game, honor the game, revere the game, kind of understand what made it great in the first place," Meier said. "I think that made it a natural product for us to do." He says that it's amazing that the property was available as well. "I think certain stars were aligning that allowed this game to make sense for us."

Enemy Unknown is due this fall, and the shooter XCOM will hit in fiscal 2013.

[Screenshot from XCOM.]