{"id":2820,"date":"2017-02-27T12:04:31","date_gmt":"2017-02-27T19:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/epic-games-shifts-strategy-to-self-publishing-with-6-games-coming\/"},"modified":"2017-02-27T12:04:31","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T19:04:31","slug":"epic-games-shifts-strategy-to-self-publishing-with-6-games-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/epic-games-shifts-strategy-to-self-publishing-with-6-games-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"Epic Games shifts strategy to self-publishing with 6 games coming"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Paragonmore about<\/a> more about<\/a> http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/paragon-300×168.jpg 300w, and<\/a> http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/paragon-768×431.jpg 768w, viagra 60mg<\/a> http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/paragon-800×450.jpg 800w, http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/paragon-780×437.jpg 780w, http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/paragon-930×522.jpg 930w, http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/paragon.jpg 1200w” sizes=”(max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px”><\/p>\n

\n

Epic Games<\/a> has undergone a shift in the past year or so, with a greater focus on smaller games that the company is self-publishing. Six of those games are in the works at the moment.<\/p>\n

The Raleigh, N.C.-based company announced one of those games, Battle Breakers, today at Google\u2019s developer day event at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Epic\u2019s Donald Mustard told me about the strategy shift in an interview. Besides Battle Breakers, the coming titles include Spyjinx, Paragon, Unreal Tournament, Fortnite, and Robo Recall.<\/p>\n

Donald Mustard became Epic\u2019s creative director a year ago. Before that, he was creative director at Chair Entertainment, the studio that made the Infinity Blade mobile game trilogy. Mustard and his brother Geremy started Chair in 2005, and Epic acquired it in 2008. Mustard\u2019s rise to the top on the creative side across all of Epic is one of many changes the company has undergone.<\/p>\n

\"donaldIn 2012, Epic sold 40 percent<\/a> of itself to Tencent for $330 million. Longtime Epic leaders Cliff Bleszinski<\/a> and Mike Capps<\/a> left the company at that time. In 2014, Epic sold<\/a>\u00a0its Gears of War franchise to Microsoft, which uses The Coalition in Vancouver to make Gears games.<\/p>\n

Epic is known for its Unreal Engine 4, which powers many of the industry\u2019s biggest games. The company is in a fierce battle with Unity Technologies for the hearts and minds of game companies. While Unity has grown from the low end, Epic has moved down from the high end to embrace indie game makers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEpic has a full slate of games coming,\u201d Mustard said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a strong focus on our game engine, but we\u2019ve also got a strong internally produced games business too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Epic's<\/p>\n

Above: Epic\u2019s Battle Breakers<\/p>\n

Image Credit: Epic Games<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Battle Breakers is based on 1980s Saturday morning cartoons. In the tactical role-playing game, you acquire creatures and fight others with them. It\u2019s a sci-fi and fantasy game with hundreds of characters. The title is in its soft launch now for mobile and PC.<\/p>\n

Epic\u2019s multiplayer online battle arena game, Paragon, went into early access beta testing a year ago. The free-to-play PC and PlayStation 4 game features high-end graphics and a top-down perspective, but it faces tough competition in the space from rivals like League of Legends and Dota 2. Epic is adding more features, gameplay modes, and heroes to Paragon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very encouraged,\u201d Mustard said. \u201cThe numbers are growing every month. It will go gold at some point. It has given us some amazing learnings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game had 650,000 users in November, and it has 800,000 now, with big growth in the number of weekly players.<\/p>\n

\u201cW are determined to go back to our roots and go directly to users without publisher relationsihps,\u201d said Tim sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, in an interview with GamesBeat. \u201cThe friction that is there. It\u2019s so much better to operate a game live and change it in response\u00a0to consumer feedback. Paragon has changed so much in response. it\u2019s a continual dialogue. It\u2019s like\u00a0going back to the days when we first started. That\u2019s what epic is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.J.<\/p>\n

Above: J.J. Abrams is working with Epic\u2019s Chair, the makers of Infinity Blade, on Spyjinx.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: Epic<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mustard\u2019s Chair team is also working with J.J. Abrams\u2019 Bad Robot production company on a game called Spyjinx. The mobile title is \u201cgoing extremely well,\u201d Mustard said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur\u00a0collaboration with Bad Robot has been incredible,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are so talented and so understand the language of video\u00a0games and of character, how to make people care about things in a game. The game is really fun and coming\u00a0together. You can expect announcements later this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Epic is also working on Fortnite, a PC and console game with a unique combination of shooting and building and exploration.<\/p>\n

\u201c2017 is going to be a huge year for Fortnite,\u201d Mustard said.<\/p>\n

Unreal Tournament is also in the works. The company is developing that one with input from the players and the modding community (which modifies the game with user-created add-ons).<\/p>\n

\"Epic's<\/p>\n

Above: Epic\u2019s Robo Recall is a funny shooter in VR.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: Epic Games<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

And Epic is also working on Robo Recall, a title funded by Oculus for the Oculus Rift and Touch virtual reality platform. In that game, you are a \u201crecall agent\u201d that has to recall defective robots \u201cwith extreme prejudice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a full-featured VR game that wouldn\u2019t have been possible without our partnership with Oculus,\u201d Mustard said. \u201cWe want to make a game that makes you feel like you are in the Matrix.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of the titles use Unreal Engine 4, and they will showcase what the game engine can do, Mustard said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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