14 DAY TRIAL // Epic founder Tim Sweeney envisions a future dominated by small indie productions, estimating a drop in the number of big-budget triple-A titles.
“The industry’s changing – this generation it seems like there are about a third of the number of triple-A titles in development across the industry as there was last time around – and each one seems to have about three times the budget of the previous generation. I think we’re heading towards a future where triple-A is the minority,” Sweeney revealed during a recent interview with Edge.
His predictions for the gaming industry’s future are behind Epic’s decision to offer their prized Unreal Engine 4 at a very low monthly subscription fee, in addition to 5 percent of the gross revenue for commercially published projects, as opposed to Unreal Engine 3’s licensing system, much more complex and overbearing.
“It’s meant to be as accessible to indies as a subscription to an MMO. As these triple-A games are seeing fewer releases then the empty spaces in between are being filled by indie projects of all scales,” Sweeney said.
He goes on to say that the typical development paradigm of very long building times followed by a release that is accompanied by a massive marketing campaign has been severely altered in recent times, with many games opting for crowdfunding via Kickstarter, with preview versions becoming available at first, and then getting incrementally updated until the final version is attained.
“The industry’s changing – this generation it seems like there are about a third of the number of triple-A titles in development across the industry as there was last time around – and each one seems to have about three times the budget of the previous generation. I think we’re heading towards a future where triple-A is the minority,” Sweeney confessed.
The three projects are the co-op sandbox survival game Fortnite, a high-end next-gen title that will showcase Unreal Engine 4’s power, and a lighter game that’s heading for mobile platforms.
Sweeney then pointed out that there are many games currently being developed using Unreal Engine 4, most of which have not been yet announced. He believes that as triple-A titles start seeing fewer releases, the gaps between them will be filled by indie projects of all scales, marking a truly interesting time for the industry.