X4: Foundations · published
In October 2001, X: Beyond the Frontier graced the cover disc of Computer Bild Spiele (CBS), one of Germany's top-selling print games magazines at the time. Appearing on the cover disc provided enormous visibility, bringing the game into countlessly more homes two years after its initial commercial release and proving to be a pivotal moment in Egosoft's history.
To celebrate this 25th anniversary milestone, Egosoft founder and Managing Director Bernd Lehahn takes us behind the scenes in a special German episode of our XLOG video series. You can watch the full video on our YouTube channel (with English CC system subtitles) or read the structured interview transcript below.
Hello everyone! Today we are making an Xlog video in German. The reason for this is that today, 25 years ago, "X: Beyond the Frontier" was released for the first time on the cover disc of "Computer Bild Spiele". I keep hearing, especially from our German fans, that this is still a fond memory for many people because it was the first time they ever encountered the X games series. "X: Beyond the Frontier" came out in 1999 as a full-price game - which at the time you bought in a box at a department store - and was relatively expensive. Less than two years after its release, when we received an offer from "Computer Bild Spiele", we decided to put the game onto their cover CD.
Looking back, that was a fantastic decision. It gave us a tremendous amount of visibility, led to even more sales of "X: Beyond the Frontier", and brought us many new fans. Our game became much better known, and shortly after, we released "X-Tension", the expansion for "X: Beyond the Frontier". That really boosted the popularity of our series, especially in Germany. Even today, when I meet fans at trade shows or events in Germany, I constantly hear people say that this cover disc was their entry point into the X series - and fortunately, many of them stuck with us!
A few years later, "X2: The Threat" was released, followed by "X3: Reunion", and so on. Now, as you all know, we are at "X4: Foundations". With all its DLCs, we have been developing this latest installment for over eight years now.
I would like to share a few behind-the-scenes stories about how it all started. Back then, Egosoft was a much smaller studio - probably just a little more than a handful of people. I was a programmer myself, and the company was small enough that I couldn't seriously call myself Managing Director, which is my title today. After "X: Beyond the Frontier" became a huge success in its original retail release, we immediately began working on "X-Tension".
During development, Helge Kautz suggested writing a novel set in this universe, which became "Farnham's Legend". That laid the groundwork for the deeper lore and fiction of the X universe. When "X-Tension" was released, I remember the physical box was very heavy because it included a printed copy of the novel inside. In Germany, many fans appreciate physical collector boxes. While it is a bit sad that we can't offer physical boxes for "X4" at that scale today, digital distribution offers incredible advantages for us as developers. The novels are still available electronically today and are included in our "X4: Community of Planets - Collector's Edition".
How did it come about that we created "X: Beyond the Frontier" even earlier? The release was in 1999, but we had already been working on it for a couple of years before that. Development started around 1995 or 1996. Making a space game was always a personal dream of mine. In Egosoft's early days - starting in the late 1980s and early 1990s - we made games for the Amiga. We actually attempted a space game on the Amiga that was meant to be bundled with a VR headset, but neither the game nor the headset setup ended up coming to market, so the project was canceled. That was a completely different project with another name, but the idea to do a space game was there much earlier.
The real push to create "X: Beyond the Frontier" came with the rise of 3D graphics accelerator cards around 1995 - first under DOS, then under Windows with DirectX. As a programmer, it was an exciting era because new hardware emerged constantly, enabling features that were previously impossible when relying purely on CPU rendering. Between 1995 and 1999, during the development years, our engine evolved more rapidly than it did over the following decade because new graphics cards came out every year, allowing us to implement nicer ship models and richer backgrounds.
Industry challenges back then were quite different from today. Nowadays, new indie developers face immense competition trying to gain visibility on crowded platforms like Steam or mobile storefronts. In our early days, we had to travel directly to gaming magazines - such as "Computer Bild Spiele", "GameStar", "PC Games", and "PC Joker" - to pitch previews. "Computer Bild Spiele" made us an offer, and they didn't just put our game on a CD; they featured a thorough review and several pages of gameplay guides, which were arguably better than the manual we included in the retail box. On our end, the biggest technical hurdle back then was building our technology completely from scratch, whereas modern developers can leverage existing engines. When we started, our single-digit team worked on adventure games that weren't particularly successful, financed mainly through promotional games made for German clients.
To market our games, we had to go on preview tours to show editors unfinished builds, hoping for coverage. When the game was finished, we went on a review tour to present it live. That's how we established contacts, and we were thrilled when "Computer Bild Spiele" offered to put the game on their cover CD. Although it was an economic risk, it clearly paid off in the long run.
We actually still have a few of those magazine issues on our shelf today! Back then, we would go to newsstands, buy every issue that mentioned us, and mark the reviews and articles with yellow sticky notes. "Computer Bild Spiele" even had several employees who played our game exclusively for a while to create printed strategy guides.
That coverage was a huge push for our studio, technology, and series growth. Going from a single-digit team on "X: Beyond the Frontier" to around 50 people working on "X4: Foundations" has been an incredible journey. While "X4" shares the same core vision - freedom in space and open-ended gameplay - it is vastly larger. The underlying economic simulation has evolved dramatically. In "X: Beyond the Frontier", goods were transported between factories, but those goods didn't directly supply ship production or war efforts - the loop wasn't closed. Closing that economic loop without collapsing the universe was one of our major engineering milestones for "X4". Furthermore, with walkable ship interiors, space station docks, and feature-rich maps, X has evolved from a pure first-person cockpit space sim into a hybrid strategy and 4X empire-building game.
Our community has grown immensely over these 25 years. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has supported us, whether you joined during the "Computer Bild Spiele" era or discovered us recently. As a small hint for what lies ahead: we have very cool things planned for "X4", and there will be major news coming later this year regarding big developments in the "X4" universe. Be sure to follow us across our social media channels, Reddit, Steam, and the official Egosoft forums for updates. Until then, goodbye!