The gaming industry has come a long way through the past decade and evolved greatly in terms with the needs of the consumer. From single player game to co-op to the genre of multi players and with time the developers have also put in more and more efforts in an attempt to allure players by creating content suitable for their needs.
One of the most well known developer group in the domain of single player games is the proud owner of the Unreal Engine, Epic Games. With explosive games like Gears of War and Unreal Tournament registered in their kitty, the company had made its stronghold in the industry as one of the major players and set a benchmark for other developers at that time.
But now, as the news comes, the company is likely to shift from the paradigm that they have been following. After their previous single player instalment Gears of War: Judgment couldn’t garner enough revenue to compensate for the hefty production cost, in spite of having been well received by the audience, the company feels it will focus more on free to play, multiplayer games, which seems to be the trend now.
In a recent chat with Polygon, Epic Game, CEO, Tim Sweeney said, “The economics of those games forces developers to work with major publishers to succeed, and that seems to be irreversible,” hinting that the company does not want to opt for big-budget games and wants to shift to more of an ‘indie’ tangent. Sweeney further added, “We were seeing some of the best games in the industry being built and operated as live games over time rather than big retail releases.”
Thus, the company will likely be focusing on online multi players like Paragon, Fortnite and also the new version of Unreal Tournament. The company might release the ‘unfinished’ games and carry on with the developments later. As far as their revenue model is concerned, they will most likely generate it from the in-game cosmetic purchases, somewhat like the models of popular games like League of Legends, Dota 2 and Smite.
As the company takes up a new approach in moulding themselves into the need of the hour, we hope we get to see some amazing content coming from them. Just like Unreal Tournament had spelled its magic back then, we look forward to the new games from the developer that focuses more on the needs of the consumers and follow the genre. Let’s see how it turns out to be for Epic Games.
