Infinity Blade becomes Epic's most profitable title, ahead of Gears of War
Thursday, June 28, 2012 4:48 PM
The (not so) humble smartphone game Infinity Blade has become Epic's most profitable ever franchise, ahead of giants such as Gears of War and Unreal.
Much has been made of the shift in games development during the last five years – with many studios focusing more of their time and resources on producing games for so-called "casual" platforms, such as smartphones and tablets.
Although these are sold at significantly lower prices than triple-A console titles, the potential audience for an app that works with iPhones or Android-powered handsets and tablets can be much bigger than that for a boxed console game, particularly as a title costing just a couple of pounds will get more impulse buys.
With some going so far as to question the sustainability of traditional development for games – and the likes of EA and Crytek touting a switch to a free-to-play model – the latest news from Epic is hardly likely to encourage console gamers.
Speaking at the Game Developers Conference in Taipei, Epic chief executive Tim Sweeney said that Infinity Blade is more profitable than Gears of War, according to Gamatsura.
It must be said that this is in terms of man years invested versus revenue, as opposed to total profits, but such cases could make a compelling argument for studios to pull away from producing blockbuster games with budgets running into the tens of millions of dollars.
However, Sweeney made it clear that Epic has no intention of ditching Gears and Unreal in favour of smaller games.
He said: "We're gamers and we develop the kinds of games we want to play ourselves," something that points to "big games with guns and chainsaws".
At the recent E3 show in California, Epic took the wraps off of the next instalment in the Gears of War franchise. However, it has passed off development duties to its subsidiary, Bulletstorm-maker People Can Fly.
Gears of War: Judgment is being touted for a February 2013 release.