2K Games launches XCOM: Enemy Within on mobile devices

2K Games and Firaxis Games are announcing today that XCOM: Enemy Within is available for download on a number of mobile devices.

Now this is an exercise in shoehorning a big game into mobile. Take-Two Interactive, which owns the 2K Games label, has been launching a lot of mobile versions of its console games. So has Firaxis, the development studio headed by game design veteran Sid Meier.

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XCOM: Enemy Unknown debuted in 2012 as a reboot of a classic sci-fi strategy series. The turn-based game sold more than 1.5 million units, as humans just love shooting aliens. It was a thinking person’s strategy game, as you had to figure out your moves to corner the aliens. Firaxis followed it up in 2013 with the expansion pack, XCOM: Enemy Within.

The game is now available for select iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire devices worldwide for $13 in the app stores. That’s a pretty high price for a mobile game, but it’s not bad considering the same game on the console cost $60 not so long ago.

“Providing consumers with a true triple-A game experience via a mobile or portable device is not an easy feat, but the launch of XCOM: Enemy Unknown for Mobile has shown it is possible,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K, in a statement. “Now, with the launch of XCOM: Enemy Within, 2K is able to showcase our ongoing commitment to providing high-quality, core gaming experiences for our fans on whatever platform they play on.”

Developer Virtuos Games did the work porting the game to mobile devices for Firaxis.

“XCOM: Enemy Unknown for Mobile proved that turn-based strategy games are a natural fit for touch interfaces,” said Ananda Gupta, lead designer at Firaxis Games. “In XCOM: Enemy Within, players can return to the XCOM universe, where they’ll encounter an assortment of new content including powerful new weapons, abilities, and strategies, and confront a host of dangerous new alien threats.”

The game has lots of new content including new gear, classes, maps and gameplay. It has new soldier abilities, such as the ability to add powerful genetic modifications through the Genetics Lab.

For iOS, the game will run on iPad 3, iPad mini 2, iPhone 5 and up.