Will the Samaritan demo become a real game?

The makers of Unreal Engine claim there’s three times less big budget games being made now but that they cost three times more to make.

Since Unreal Engine is the most popular graphics technology for making high-end games Epic should be in a prime position to know how many other developers are working on big budget next gen titles, but apparently it’s not as many as you’d think.

“There’s a lot [of games] on the way and a large number of them haven’t been announced,’ Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney told Edge.

‘You’ll see lots of triple-A stuff coming out over time. 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.’




As is already becoming evident the space in the development schedules is increasingly being filled by indie games, but not necessarily just the retro-looking titles that most people think of when they hear the word ‘indie’.

‘As these triple-A games are seeing fewer releases then the empty spaces in between are being filled by indie projects of all scales,’ said Sweeney, who has helped organise a subscription system so that indie developers can have easier access to the new Unreal Engine 4.

‘They’re really being developed in a completely new way – rather than being built over a very long period of time and then released with a massive marketing campaign, you’re seeing a Kickstarter and then preview versions becoming available that are incrementally improved over time. It’s a really interesting time for the industry.’

In the same interview Sweeney confirms that Epic is currently working on three new games of its own, including the previously announced co-op sandbox survival game (their term) Fortnite.

The other two projects are described as a ‘high-end next generation title’ and a mobile game but other than that they’re a mystery. However, Epic has previously said they’re not working on any more Unreal Tournament games and it can’t be Gears Of War because Microsoft bought the franchise off them last year and currently has its own studio working on a new entry.

But at a guess the high-end game is probably inspired by the Samaritan tech demo for Unreal Engine 4, while the mobile title is possibly a continuation of the Infinity Blade franchise.

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