Transport Tycoon remake coming to iOS on October 3

Classic management game Transport Tycoon is hitting iOS devices on October 3. The game is being developed by studios 31X and Origin 8 Technologies. Currently, the 19-year-old game lives on the PC in the form of the community-created OpenTTD, which is an open-source recreation of Transport Tycoon Deluxe.

Development on the game is helmed by the same guy who spearheaded the original game, as well as the stellar Rollercoaster Tycoon series—Chris Sawyer.

Chris Sawyer is designing and directing the mobile port of the classic game. The game will have a completely revamped interface that is more suited to touch-based devices. It will also feature new graphics, presumably taking advantage of the hardware that is packed into smartphones and tablets these days.

Coming to mobiles and tablets soon

The Studio, 31X, was formed by Chris Sawyer in 2010 with the specific intent of developing Transport Tycoon for mobile platforms. Earlier feathers in Sawyer’s hat include the legendary Rollercoaster Tycoon series, which has managed to remain the highest selling PC-only franchise in the world.

Sawyer doesn’t have to work on the game from scratch thanks to developer Origin8, which has recreated and restored the original simulation code from Transport Tycoon. Thanks to this, if the mobile game manages to have the same depth as the original, it will be the deepest simulation game that we’ve seen on iOS and Android so far, even when compared to the likes of Organ Trail: Director’s Cut.

It is currently unclear whether the game will have a price tag or if it will simply follow the much-maligned “freemium” model that a lot of mobile games follow these days. Fans will undoubtedly upset if Sawyer reveals that the game will feature in-app purchases to unlock further content.