XCOM 2 Developers Plan to Release UDK Toolkit for Modding

While talking with IGN’s Dan Stapleton, Firaxis’ creative director Jake Solomon and lead producer Garth DeAngelis shared the studio’s plans for modding with XCOM 2. While originally Firaxis claimed modding would be supported for the first title too, this time they go beyond vague promises and lay out a precise plan. The developers intend to release the Unreal Development Kit for the game at launch or soon after, opening a world of possibilities for mods as complex as The Long War, which Solomon cites as inspirational:

(We’re going all-out with modding on XCOM 2,) declared Creative Director Jake Solomon. One of his and Lead Producer Garth DeAngelis’ chief regrets about XCOM: Enemy Unknown is its lack of significant mod support, and it’s a missed opportunity they don’t intend to repeat. And so they laid out their plans: Either day-and-date with XCOM 2’s November launch or soon thereafter, Firaxis intends to release a full suite of modding tools an Unreal Development Kit (UDK) and the editor the developers use to create content that will enable modders to run wild with XCOM 2. (It’s yours now; do with it what you want.)

(People will see the gameplay source, all the scripting,) he promised. (This is the code that makes the game what the game is. Here’s the editor and all the assets that went into this game.)

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(We’re basically a 20-hour tutorial for The Long War, and that’s okay,) admitted Solomon. (I think Long War was cool, because I think that there is especially in strategy games there’s always this desire to see more. They did this awesome job of adding a lot more. People will be sharing stories of XCOM and I’ll be like ‘˜I don’t even know what they’re talking about, this game has changed so much!’ And that, to me, is cool.”