Infinity Blade is more profitable than Gears of War

The gaming industry has frequently been dominated by expensive triple-A titles, but the continuing popularity of social and mobile gaming may change that. If you need proof, look no further than Epic Games, a developer famous for making popular shooters such as Gears of War and Unreal Tournament. These games are best-sellers, but the company’s most profitable game is an iOS title: Infinity Blade.

“The most profitable game we’ve ever made, in terms of man years invested versus revenue, is actually Infinity Blade,” said Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney in an interview with Gamasutra. “It’s more profitable than Gears of War. Nowadays, the high-end of the game business is in these console game. Activision invests almost $100 million per year in Call of Duty.”

Sweeney said that Epic was “very very surprised to see how fast smartphone and tablet devices are improving.” He also noted that Apple’s newest tablet, the iPad 3, is almost equal to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in terms of technical performance.

Originally conceived as a title for Microsoft’s motion-sensing Kinect device, Infinity Blade and its sequel have earned more than $30 million.