Epic: Apps Could Kill Off $60 Console Games

Epic Games, in co-operation with Chair Entertainment, brought us Infinity Blade, one of the most graphically impressive, no-compromise game on the App Store. Infinity Blade costs $9.99, and not only is it worth every penny, but for the price, it's graphically equal to many games on modern consoles like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360…. and Epic sees app games as possibly killing off consoles once and for all.

"If there's anything that's killing us [in the traditional games business] it's dollar apps," said Epic Games' Mike Capps. "How do you sell someone a $60 game that's really worth it … They're used to 99 cents. As I said, it's an uncertain time in the industry. But it's an exciting time for whoever picks the right path and wins."

I don't know about that right now. Worrying about this might be premature. There's a huge difference between a $60 game on the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 and even an app as advanced as Infinity Blade. The bottom line is that right now, you're just not going to get a cinematic experience on iOS, nor a AAA title dozens of hours of length. The hardware's not right for it yet.

In the future, though? Who knows? The way mobile hardware is advancing, I could see it as overtaking consoles entirely within five years… and if Apple ever rolls out apps to the AppleTV, perhaps even less time than that.