With Unreal Engine 4, Epic Games has built a versatile development toolkit that works for major studios or tiny independent creators, and now Epic is working with a new partner to help find a home for some Unreal-based games built for lower-end devices.
World of Tanks publisher Wargaming has teamed up with Epic to publish Unreal Engine 4 games. Wargaming Mobile will provide developers access to Epic’s Unreal Development Network support service as well as co-marketing promotions. The company will also pay publishing costs. Millions of players are already in Wargaming’s network thanks to World of Tanks, World of Warships, and more. The publisher wants to use that platform to put these new games, built on Unreal primarily for iOS and Android, in front of that audience. It is calling this the Wargaming Mobile Publishing Program. Wargaming has a history working in this space with its World of Tanks: Blitz, which started as a mobile game before moving to PC.
Unreal Engine 4 is responsible for some of the best-looking games on the market. That includes the technical marvel Dragon Ball Fighterz as well as Epic’s own Unreal Tournament. But this publishing deal is possible because Unreal 4 can scale down to run well on hardware that is less powerful than a modern PC — like the Nintendo Switch, iPhone 7, or Samsung Galaxy S8.
“Together, Epic Games and Wargaming Mobile are looking forward to seeing more great Unreal Engine 4 based titles on mobile platforms published worldwide,” Wargaming Labs boss Andrey Zimenko said. “With amazing opportunities for success provided by the new Wargaming Mobile Publishing Program.”
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While Epic has found a lot of success in recent years by positioning Unreal as an ideal option for indie games, deals like this one could encourage even more development on its platform. Epic is also already working on publishing its own games and maintaining its Epic Games Launcher distribution channel on PC. Wargaming gives Epic a chance to do some similar outreach to other market segments without having to build everything itself.
“We are excited to join Wargaming in this partnership to support and nurture talented mobile developers using Unreal Engine 4,” Epic European territory manager Mike Gamble said in a statement. “Our most notable successes on mobile are leaders in the online space, and we look forward to seeing even more teams leverage UE4’s power and flexibility to bring outstanding free-to-play content to mobile platforms.”
Disclaimer: Epic Games is the sponsor of our Unreal E3 Awards contest. Our coverage remains objective.
