Any suggestion that Epic's Unreal Engine would be unsuitable for iPhone development has been firmly quashed by the success of the record-breaking Infinity Blade.

Official figures remain a mystery, but Game Center numbers suggest Epic's first iOS release might have pulled in revenues in excess of $1.1 million in its first five days on sale.

The decision to make Unreal Engine available to other iOS developers, therefore, is a bit of a no-brainer, with Epic expected to add iOS support to the Unreal Development Kit (UDK) before the week is out.

Mobile marvel

As before, downloading UDK itself will come without charge, though developers looking to make use of it in an iOS release will have to pay $99 for a license.

 

Studios will then have to hand over 25 percent of all royalties once the game has passed $5,000 in sales.

"Apple's App Store is the most vibrant market for mobile gaming," Epic co-founder Mark Rein told the Wall Street Journal of the move.

"If you're going to make a game for a mobile device, and you want to make the most money, you're nuts not to make it for iOS."

Android unlikely

Any suggestion that the addition of iOS support would precede the Unreal Engine popping up on rival smartphone formats in the years to come is far less certain, however.

The paper reports Rein is yet to be convinced by Android, for instance, with the Epic man reportedly stating he believes writing code to suit the wide array of handsets running on the OS and the file size limit on Android Market essentially rules the platform out for the time being.

[source: Wall Street Journal]