Feral Interactive today announced the release of Tropico for iPad, scheduled for a debut sometime "later this year." Originally published by Kalypso Media from Tropico 3 onwards, Feral noted that this will mark the first time Tropico has been ported to iPad.

“With its delightful mix of strategy and tongue-in-cheek humour, the Tropico series has long been a favourite of desktop and console gamers alike,” said David Stephen, Managing Director of Feral Interactive. “Re-imagining its gameplay for mobile has been great fun; we’re excited by the results, and are delighted to be bringing it to iPad.” “We are thrilled to be working with Feral Interactive to further expand the Tropico IP to iPad gamers across the globe,” said Marcus Behrens, Publishing Director for Mobile at Kalypso Media. “Tropico has captured the hearts and imagination of millions of gamers during its 17 year history and this transition to tablet takes the brand on a whole new and exciting journey.”

Tropico is a city building game set on an island in the Caribbean, where the player takes on the role of the island's dictator El Presidente as they build up the island's infrastructure and manage its economy. This includes city building, issuing "edicts" to the populace, creating monuments, and more.

Feral mentioned that Tropico for iOS has been "redesigned and developed" for mobile devices, and when it launches on iPad it will be a premium, full-priced game with no in-app purchases. The tablet-optimized app will feature new touch controls with an easy-to-navigate user interface that Feral developed in the transition from PC/console to iPad.

In line with previous Feral announcements, no other details were given for Tropico, so we'll have to wait until closer to launch for a specific date and list of which iPads the game will run on. This year, Feral has ported a handful of games to Mac computers as well, including Rise of the Tomb Raider, Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia, and Life is Strange: Before the Storm.