XCOM 2 devs explain PC exclusivity, game won't support gamepads at launch

XCOM 2 developer Firaxis explains why the game is exclusive to the PC and why it won't support gamepads at launch.

XCOM 2 was revealed last week as a PC exclusive, to many people's surprise. The game is built for PC, so much so that the developer is not considering gamepad support, at least not on launch.

In a new interview with IGN, creative director Jake Solomon and lead producer Garth DeAngelis talked about the studios' PC heritage, the very ambitious goals they have for the sequel, and more. This includes features like "high-fidelity characters and environments," "physically based rendering," and "better-looking destruction."

"To do that, we had to use all of our studio expertise … and our expertise here is PC. That's our home, and that's where we're really comfortable," said Solomon.

"Internally, with a relatively small team for the size of the game that we are, to be able to say we can focus on our platform that the studio has a pedigree for, and that X-COM: UFO Defense has a pedigree for, as PC-only... it just made a lot of sense, and that's how we wanted to dedicate our time," added DeAngelis.

The team is working on making the game as mouse-and-keyboard-friendly as possible. Things like UI, text feed and others are directly affected by the decision to go PC only. Gamepad support will not receive a major focus as a result, but Firaxis is planning to add it post-launch.