Capps: $60 SKUs under threat from mobile games

Epic's Mike Capps believes that the proliferation of cheap mobile apps could damage the next generation of console games.

Speaking to Industrygamers, Capps explained that 99 cent games pose less of a threat to a premium iOS release than they do to AAA titles like Gears Of War 3.

"I'm more worried that you can get a really good 99 cent game that occupies you for hours and hours on end and how that impacts $60 SKUs," he said.

"I'm not as worried about how it impacts Infinity Blade – I think there will always be room for a premium SKU on a mobile platform. And I think as more buyers [enter the mobile market], there will be more people who are willing to spend a bit more for quality."

"But I do worry about what it means for the next generation of console games. Are people really going to want to spend $60 on a game?... It's not a sustainable business model. I'm not sure how it all ends up."

This echoes similar comments made by EA Sports' Andrew Wilson to GamesIndustry.biz last week, when he said that, "there will come a time where the consumer is simply not prepared to pay $60 up-front for a game."

Capps also cited the availability of services like Netflix on Xbox Live as more damaging to Shadow Complex than rival games like Limbo or Castle Crashers.

"If you fired up your dashboard right there, if you already bought Netflix, you have tons and tons of awesome content that's bite sized in 1.5 to 2 hour chunks. So that was our competition, getting mindshare in the dashboard, more than it was against the other games in the space."