Sid Meier has been in the industry for years, long enough to see new trends rise and fade. How does the luminary plan on approaching tablet and mobile games?

"Essentially, I think we would not approach [mobile/tablet gaming] differently," Meier said. "I think we would imagine, what would be a game we would like to play, on this platform with this technology, and then make that game."

He told Game Informer that mobile games are making a shift in how design teams operate, from smaller teams to gameplay at the forefront of the development focus.

"Technology has always been one of the driving forces of the industry, back since we got 16 colors instead of 4 colors," he said. "It continues to re-energize us in terms of what we can do and what the potential is. When you look at mobile gaming and tablet gaming, the whole idea of interconnectedness and having a game with you at all times -- those are all new play paradigms that are just waiting to be explored by some new game ideas."

Currently Firaxis is at work on XCOM: Enemy Unknown for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. It's scheduled for fiscal 2013.