What the? Mac version of XCOM sighted on Steam
XCOM: Enemy Unknown for Mac OS X
Loading...I’ve just launched Steam, and to my complete surprise, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is there (update: that’s no longer the case). It’s unplayable, of course, but there’s a password-protected opt-in beta, putting it in exactly the same state as Max Payne 3 (which we’re still waiting for official confirmation on). Previously this happened with The Witcher 2, where the game was showing in user’s libraries prior to it being available to play. On the other hand, this also puts it in the same position as The Longest Journey, which has been listed in my “Mac Games” section of Steam for quite some time now, without materialising into a playable game.
If a Mac version of XCOM is indeed coming, this could be extremely significant, marking this the first game published by Feral Interactive to find its way onto Steam (with the implication that this will be SteamPlay-enabled no less). Only a few days ago I was urging developers to make use of SteamPlay (singling out XCOM in particular, in fact), and that happening will be a huge boost to Mac gamers.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown was released last year on Steam as a Windows-only title. The Mac version was published by Feral Interactive and released in April 2013 on a number of distribution channels including the Mac App Store, but not Steam. To date, no games published by Feral Interactive are available on Steam.
So, this could be nothing, this could be the beginning of great things for Mac gamers. We’ve contacted Feral for an official comment on the matter, will update if we know more.