The X-Files video game that never was! Chris Carter had mentioned that a video game was in preparation in a couple of past interviews, but we all assumed he meant the short-lived Android-based “Deep State”. Apparently, there was a big game in development around the time of the revival but it never came to completion. The game developer Nico Augusto, also a TXF fan and a UFO/paranormal enthusiast, provided lots of behind the scenes details and visuals. I see no reason to doubt his claims.
– The game development was to be announced during the airing of the revival / season 10 [i.e., 2016].
– Small French/Californian company Any Arts Production was chosen by Fox to develop the game in the summer of 2015.
– A playable demo was created to promote the project to executives and investors, with case files graphics, a 3D model of the XF office and a night scene in the woods where Scully is abducted by a ray of light.
– For PS4/XBox; third view, player would be Mulder; stealth investigative game, some chases and action; taking gameplay/mood inspiration from Alan Wake, Heavy Rain, Uncharted; running on Unreal Engine.
– Intended plot: Scully dies during an investigation; Mulder somehow tracks down the scientist from “Synchrony” in order to be able to travel back in time and save Scully; Mulder finds himself travelling all over the timeline, revisiting past cases, such as “The Host” or the Mulder cottage in Quonochontaug. [Sounds completely crazy, but it allows the player to re-live some of the series’ past, which ticks many boxes]
– Approved by all parties involved, including Fox Interactive and Chris Carter. Some names from the video game industry that were involved: John Melchior, David Stelzer.
– Voice actors were approached and agreed in principle, including Duchovny (hard to get!), Anderson, Pileggi.
– The budget was going to be some $ 35 million [which is not small for a game based on an old IP like TXF!] and was going to be developed over an estimated 3.5 years before release.
– But Fox just gave the license, they were not going to finance it directly [a classic move by current-day standards, subcontract all the risk!…]; the financing setup was going to be the role for other entities. The development very slowly fell apart when sufficient funds could not be gathered together to secure the necessary budget.
Details from Any Arts head Nico Augusto (in French; includes some additional concept art in the background): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO3ad_QVQcM
Video demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Xu8IdNN84
Nico in Los Angeles around the time of the launch of the revival: https://www.instagram.com/nico_augusto_/p/B3DGDqXo40V/
I am not a big video game player but this would have been a cool thing to witness — although I played *a lot* the old TXF game on PC, so maybe I was the target group too? With the Fox/Disney reshuffle and the revival being less successful than planned (probably?), it looks like any plans for another TXF video game are shelved.
With thanks to Nicolò Cantoni!