This game drew its influence from the various incarnations of the X-Men characters. The storyine was inspired by the original X-Men comics. The uniforms were taken from Ultimate X-Men (an alternate version of the comics created for readers who didn't want to have to deal with the thirty plus years of backstory from the original comics) and the design of the Xavier Mansion is taken from the X-Men film franchise that was introduced in the first X-Men (2000) film.
This game was first announced in a press release by Activision on April 23rd, 2003, as an X-Men RPG game that is the first to capture the essence of the X-Men by allowing players to control multiple characters that fight together as a team that allows you to develop your specialized powers as you succeed through your missions.
This game is Raven Software's first console title; after a number of successful titles for personal computers, the company developed the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Gamecube versions simultaneously and used Vicarious Visions' Alchemy engine as a base for the game.
Raven Software wanted to feature a team-based dynamic in this game, something they felt was absent from previous X-Men games.