After this morning's announcement that Epic Games has sold the Gears of War franchise to Microsoft Studios, some people mistakenly believed that it meant the studio was pulling out of game development entirely. After all, they seem to make more money licensing the Unreal Engine, and the 4th iteration seems already destined to be one of the most popular engines for creating Xbox One and PS4 games. But they've already taken to the internet with news that they will continue making games in the future.
Wes Philips, PR Manager at Epic Games, posted the following on Twitter:
"And for people saying Epic isn't making games anymore, we currently have multiple games in development, including @FortniteGame."
It seems insane that anyone would think they would halt game development entirely- Epic has been in the industry forever and while Gears of War was undoubtedly their biggest IP, it's hardly the only ace up their sleeve. After all, don't forget that they've conquered the mobile game market as well with their Infinity Blade series, which is one of the most popular and successful (and stunningly beautiful) on iOS.
Fortnite is the only announced game they have on the way but it looks fantastic. It's a self proclaimed mash-up of Minecraft and Left 4 Dead- that takes the best from both and sticks them in a cartoony, hyper-realistic world. During the day you run around exploring and scavenging items, trying to build up fortified structures in time for nightfall, when waves of monsters attack. The Left 4 Dead influence comes from the fact that it's a co-op title that makes people work together to build the structures and fight off the enemies. If you don't hold up your end of the building and let the monsters break through your whole team will pay for it.
There hasn't been an update on Fortnite in a long damn time- and it was first revealed back in December 2011!- but it's set for release this year on Xbox One and PC. Fortnite will be the first Epic game to utilize their Unreal Engine 4.
Epic is also reportedly working on a AAA shooter title, which should come as no surprise for the company. Now is the moment where we should all lament that Bulletstorm failed to take off, because that ridiculous shooter would have been incredible on the next-gen systems. One can always hope, of course...
