High revenue, and relatively low development costs for the “Infinity Blade” series on iOS have combined to make the titles the most profitable ever for publisher Epic Games. Profits exceed even its blockbuster Xbox 360 franchise, “Gears of War.”
Tim Sweeney, chief executive of Epic Games, revealed at the Game Developers Conference in Taipei this week that “Infinity Blade” is the most profitable game the company has ever made in terms of man years invested versus revenue, according to Gamasutra. That puts it ahead of “Gears of War,” a bestselling series from Epic found on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console.
Sweeny also remarked that devices like the iPad 3 are almost as powerful graphically as the Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3. He also predicted that as DirectX technology, currently found on PCs becomes more widely available on mobile devices it will allow for even more impressive mobile games.
Sweeney believes the greatest growth will be in the free-to-play titles. Users can download and play the games for free, but must purchase additional in-game content and features.
Epic also sells the “Unreal” engine which powers titles such as “Gears” and “Blade”. By licensing the Unreal Engine, developers can save time and money on development.