Feral Interactive is mostly known for its Mac OS X ports

May 27, 2014 12:05 GMT  ·  By

XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the turn-based tactical action game developed by Firaxis and published by 2K Games, has been confirmed for Linux and the port will be done by Feral Interactive.

Rumors about the Linux version of XCOM: Enemy Unknown have been around for quite some time, but no one has confirmed or denied anything. The only solid lead about this information was the fact that XCOM was visible in the Linux section in the Steam Database, but that was about it.

Now, the company doing the port for XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Feral Interactive, took it upon themselves to post some information about it, but in fact much more can be inferred from their short communique.

“In the fight to defend Earth against its alien invaders, every scientific development is crucial in giving us an edge over our planet’s enemies. So we’re quietly thrilled to announce a significant breakthrough: Feral’s first game for Linux, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.”

“Linux gamers will be able to join the fight for humanity’s future this summer when the Ubuntu 14.04 version of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is released as a SteamPlay title. To give new recruits every advantage in the field, all add-on content including XCOM: Enemy Within will be released on Linux at the same time,” said the devs from Feral Interactive.

There is actually more information available than you might suspect. The mention of Ubuntu 14.04 means that it might be a minimum requirement for the game, although it's very likely that it will also work on SteamOS.

Also, it's interesting to note that 2K Games chose Feral Interactive to port this title, which means that there is a good chance that both the upcoming Civilization: Beyond Earth and Civilization V will be brought to the Linux platform by the same company.

Feral Interactive is a very well-known studio that is already doing ports for Mac OS X. Publishers like 2K Games, SEGA, Square Enix, TT Games, Codemasters, Gearbox Software, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and Kalypso Media have decided that it's a good idea to let this studio take charge of Linux.

Having a native port for XCOM: Enemy Unknown is very important, especially if we take a look at The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings blunder and the adverse reaction from the Linux community, which did not appreciate the half-baked efforts made by CD Projekt Red.

Feral Interactive didn't provide any information about the launch date, but if they are making the announcement it is likely that it won't be long before we’re able to play XCOM on our Linux machines.

Take a look a closer look at the game in one of our videos.