Competing with XCOM is hard, Paradox executive says, as it’s “the one thing that works”

Turn-based strategy games and tactical RPGs come and go, but XCOM is forever. At least, it can certainly feel that way. It’s been more than eight years since Firaxis unleashed XCOM 2 on the world, and almost six since the arrival of its masterful War of the Chosen expansion. Since then, we’ve seen some excellent contenders in the space – the likes of Gears Tactics, Battletech, and Warhammer 40k Battlesector come to mind – but none have become quite the cultural phenomenon that XCOM is. In the wake of its own attempt, I asked Paradox deputy CEO Mattias Lilja about trying to compete with such established titans.

The Crusader Kings maker and Cities Skylines 2 publisher was quick to brand the performance of The Lamplighters League a “disappointment” after its launch in October 2023, and soon after parted ways with its developer Hairbrained Schemes. The turn-based strategy game is packed with charm, but even at release wasn’t able to top the first XCOM’s active player count more than a decade after launch, let alone the still-impressive numbers routinely posted by XCOM 2.

So does Lilja think attempting to conquer the established presence of XCOM is too high a task – and does it even matter, or is it sustainable to exist in the space even if you don’t beat its leader? “The business analysis, for me, would be how big is the space,” Lilja responds, “Are you able to be second, third, fourth, or fifth in that space? Or is it really just one giant sucking up all the players and attention?”

“XCOM seems to be, at least to us right now, the one thing in tactical that works,” he continues. “Very few other things seem to be doing well there. So the question is, is there a second or third place you can even have that is sustainable?” From that perspective, Lamplighters League didn’t make sense. “A decently reviewed game, with not that many players – we didn’t see that genre [as] something we wanted to continue in. The dev team, they do this thing and they want to keep doing it, so parting ways was logical.”

As another point of comparison, Lilja addresses Millennia – launched in March 2024, the 4X game has also struggled to match the might of its biggest genre competitor in Civilization. “Civilization is huge. Millennia was not,” he says, but notes that “there are other games that are doing okay around Civ. So maybe, in that orbit, you can exist.” While most of the Paradox lineup falls more into the bracket of grand strategy games, it has expanded successfully into the 4X space with the likes of Stellaris.

“Millennia was not the answer,” Lilja admits. “We like the dev team – maybe a bit more than the game – so we’ll see what we do there.” As Paradox reflects on its core competencies in the wake of Life By You’s failure, Lilja says, “When we move out into other areas, we’re not that competent. I mean, [Civilization] 7 is coming up, right? So they are very good and busy, and we are not that good and small.”

Despite its struggles, Lilja is happier with the project overall. “I will actually defend Millennia, given that it was not a huge investment. So a failure with Millenia for us is an acceptable price to try that space,” he concludes. “We’re also looking at teams, and those teams might be more interesting than the first game they make. If we’re going to do interesting things, we have to take risks – we just have to be smart about it.”

It’s possible even Firaxis is intimidated by its own success – after all, despite its spin-off incursion with Chimera Squad, we’ve yet to hear word on an XCOM 3 release date, although the studio did say in 2022 that there was absolutely a future for the series. For the time being, you can browse through the best strategy games to play right now.

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