I'd totally play some of these games on an Ipad though, or if it had PC compatability.

Not on a phone though... too tiny a screen.

GameLoft is easily a company that can afford it. And with smartphones getting stronger and stronger better tech is needed. UE3 might be overkill, UE2 would have been a better choice, but it does allow for better looking 3D games.

I mean, i get they can afford it, at the same time, nobody made mass produced wii engines on the theory that "It would be cheaper to just make your own."

Maybe it's because i'm not a programmer, but I feel like either

A) It would be cheaper to hire a couple guys to make an engine for you.

or

B) It wouldn't be worth the time to lisecense an engine for said games.

All those people buying those 99cent games are tweens with their iphones to play durning lunch together, its the "cool thing" to do in school now, soon they grow a little older and will lust for a greater adventure/bigger challange - which is why the video game industry has been growing all these years nonstop.

What I do see as a current problem is the transition from last gen to this gen, the market reached saturation at the end of PS2 and xbox's life and now all the less glamorous companies are struggleing to make the profits they did back then, but in my opinion its mostly their fault. Demon's Souls and other games have proven that quality and creativity still sells in the gaming market.

I think what most of you aren't getting here is that in a world where games are practically free or outright free to play at first then such a world would benefit from a game engine which shifts the costs of development from the front end before release to royalties after release which only actually costs money if the game actually succeeds. In a world where games cost $0, Epic would be laughing all the way to the bank so long as these games still required Unreal Engine 3.

its a fact shovelware sells more than AAA games. why do you assume the better product has better sales? thats rarely the case in any industry, not only games.

Cliffy B is an idiot.

I'm pretty sure Unreal Engine mobile isn't being used for $.99 apps, unless they are essentially "free to play" games with some sort of built in credit system (so in actuality; pay as you go) or built in ads actually generate enough revenue to pay for licensing the engine in addition to covering production costs.

Keep in mind that the main purpose for licensed game engines is to facilitate ease of development rather than to simply make the most visually impressive title possible.

One of the biggest advantages the mobile market has is due in part to the lack of physical media/inventory and partly because licensing fees are based on a percentage rather than a flat rate as they are on consoles, is scalability when it comes to pricing.

Yes, free and $.99 games are the most common, but as games continue to increase in production value (outside of the realm of developed by one guy on his laptop or a few guys working out of a garage), publishers are charging more for what could easily pass as a $30 mobile game on a dedicated handheld, yet rarely do they ever cost more than $20. $10-15 seems to be the range for full titles like Final Fantasy IV.

I would imagine most games being developed with Unreal Engine would fall into the same category unless it relied heavily upon ad subsidies or a pay as you play system.

hmmm didn't sony mock the wii too? How did that turn out?

They should be scared if the ony improvements in future games are graphics and prices, along with high devs costs.