Epic’s Infinity Blades make $28m in twelve months

Epic Games’ two debut iPhone games have generated more than $28 million in just over a single year, the company has announced.

Infinity Blade and its sequel, two "triple-A" App Store games, have both accumulated the significant revenues in the space of a single year.

The first Infinity Blade game, released December 2010, has grossed more than $23 million to date, Epic said.

Its sequel, released twelve months later, made some $5 million in net sales during its first month – a milestone which the original took three months to reach.

The Infinity Blade franchise has made more than $30 million in total, with the extra cash generated through digital novella, an original soundtrack and even a coin-op edition of the game.

Both the iPhone Infinity Blade games were built at Chair Entertainment, the Salt Lake City studio owned by Epic. Based on the sales performance of both titles, a third edition in the series is likely.

“The success of the Infinity Blade franchise is testament to our talented team who is devoted to making games we want to play, all while using Unreal Engine technology to redefine what is expected from games on iOS devices,” said Epic Games president Mike Capps.

“We have so much more in store for players, and will continue to make great content for Apple’s evolving platforms,” he said.

Despite the App Store development scene gripped by a free-to-play craze – with many studios releasing their games for free and then monetising through virtual item sales – the Infinity Blade games remain popular despite their relatively high price points.

In the UK, the first Infinity Blade currently costs £3.99 to download, with the sequel priced at £4.99.

Epic added that both titles, built through the mobile edition of Unreal Engine, appear to have encouraged other smartphone game studios to licence its tech.