The Bureau XCOM: Declassified

Project Description

This was the first video game campaign I worked on and it quickly became one of the most ambitious. The Bureau: XCOM Declassified was a Cold War-era tactical shooter from 2K Games, developed under intense scrutiny and numerous delays. By the time we got involved, the gameplay and visuals had fallen behind modern expectations. The brief was clear: make this game feel exciting again. Our team delivered the first live-action trailer, which became 2K’s most-watched video at the time. From there, the campaign expanded quickly. I worked alongside Patrick O’Rourke (Copywriter) on immersive marketing concepts, including event installations and influencer outreach.

One of our ideas became a fully realized press kit that blurred the line between fiction and reality. A small run was produced and shipped to key bloggers and media outlets. Each kit came in a plain government-labeled box and included:

• A confidential-style dossier
• A spiral-bound field manual
• A crushed pack of cigarettes
• A Zippo-style lighter
• A reel of 8mm film
• An ashtray

It felt less like marketing and more like opening evidence from a cover-up, exactly the kind of analog storytelling the game needed.During that time, I also pitched a forward-thinking idea: convert one of the in-game weapons (the Light Plasma Pistol) into a 3D-printable object. I optimized the asset, cut print time from 80 hours to 10, and prepped it for production as a physical pre-order bonus, the first of its kind. Unfortunately, just before launch, the political climate shifted around gun imagery in games, and the client pulled the concept. Still, that work would later evolve into the 3D printing strategy we used successfully for Evolve.

This project was a lesson in creative resilience. Despite the limitations, it laid the groundwork for ideas that would go on to define my next chapter.