Infinity Blade is Epic's 'most profitable' series

If you get squeamish around the impending threat of mobile games, be advised that the content of this article is graphic and may disturb you. Infinity Blade is Epic's most profitable game franchise, according to CEO Tim Sweeney. The statistic comes with a few caveats, but it's still a pretty striking example of a rapidly changing games marketplace.

"The most profitable game we've ever made, in terms of man years invested versus revenue, is actually Infinity Blade," Sweeney told an audience at GDC Taipei, reported by Gamasutra. "It's more profitable than Gears of War." That "man years invested" part is important, as company co-founder Mark Rein was sure to accent that point. This is only about man years versus revenue, not total profit numbers.

Still, it makes plenty of sense. Infinity Blade was produced in a much shorter time period than Epic's big-budget blockbusters, so that shifts the ratio dramatically. It's easy to see how the mobile market would be tempting if a much smaller investment can yield these results, especially if they're bolstered by physical sales and microtransactions as Infinity Blade has been.