Here's a thought: Firaxis's Gold Award-winning iOS turn-based strategy game XCOM: Enemy Unknown isn't expensive. We've just been spoilt.

Here's a second thought: If we want iOS to be taken seriously as a gaming platform, we need more premium-priced titles on the App Store.

Money, money, money

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of great games for iOS devices. Some of them only cost 69p / 99c, which doesn't represent a huge loss if the game turns out to be a dud.

You might dig around the back of the sofa for a while to rustle up 69p / 99c for another 'go' on the App Store roulette wheel, but you wouldn't stick your hand down a drain or fight another human being for that amount.

With the rise of cut-price superstar iOS games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, our expectations have been changed. Someone's moved the goal posts, in other words.

Why should we pay £13.99 / $19.99 for an iOS game like XCOM: Enemy Unknown when there are so many cheaper, high-quality games out there?

The answer's pretty simple - XCOM: Enemy Unknown is worth it.

It might be a slightly pared-back version of a 6-month-old console title, but the sheer amount of game you're getting for your cash with XCOM: Enemy Unknown is remarkable.

And it fits in your pocket. You can play it on a bus. You can play it on a train. You can... You get the idea.

If you'd have told someone six years ago that there was a device available on the high street that would enable him to play console-quality games six months after they were released for a fraction of the price, he'd have called you mad. Or something less flattering.

The fact that said 'future fantastic' device would fit in your pocket and would allow you to take photos, make phone calls, and carry your entire music collection without the need for IKEA pallets may just blow that disbelieving person's mind.

We're all worth it

Times have changed, however. Smartphones and tablets are the norm now, and they're powerful enough to change the way we game completely.

Over the past few years, we iOS gamers have been spoilt. We've been indulged. In the game developers' seemingly eternal race to the bottom, we are the somewhat self-indulgent spectators.

We casually sit on the sidelines as iPhone and iPad game publishers become increasingly fixated by the low end of the price scale. And, yes, that includes free-to-play.

That's a mindset we need iOS developers and publishers to rid themselves of if we want smartphone and tablet gaming to get the recognition it deserves.

Power to the people

These devices aren't just for playing Angry Birds Seasons on; they're full-fledged gaming powerhouses on which you can play games in a magnificent array of different genres.

And to get there, we're going to have to eradicate this idea or notion that £13.99 / $19.99 is a lot to pay for a mobile video game.

You'd think nothing of paying that for two cinema tickets or a brand-new Blu-ray. I mean, you'd pay almost triple that for a full-price home-console game.

So, no, XCOM: Enemy Unknown ISN'T expensive. And the sooner we all realise that, the sooner we're going to see even more brilliantly designed large-scale games on the devices we all love.