XCOM 2 - How one Mod spawned a Development Studio

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PC Gamer tells the story behind the XCOM: Enemy Unknown Long War Mod:

How one XCOM mod spawned a development studio The story and legacy of the XCOM: Enemy Unknown Long War mod.

"Last September, I went to the Firaxis offices when they were in the fairly late stages of polishing XCOM 2. I met Jake Solomon there and showed him what XCOM: Enemy Unknown modding looked like. He wondered aloud if I had closets full of chains and leather."

John Lumpkin, otherwise known as JohnnyLump, is the co-creator of XCOM: Enemy Unknown's ultra-difficult Long War-a mod that adds a slew of surplus stats, extra weapons, more campaign missions, more challenges, more squad members and, inevitably, more death to the original game. To those uninitiated, Jake Solomon-Enemy Unknown's creative director-once described Firaxis' official top-selling reimagining of Julian Gollop's 1994 turn-based classic as a "20-hour tutorial" for Long War, which gives a sense of how comprehensive Lumpkin and partner Rachel Norman's hobbyist modification is.​