Fortnite Studio Removes All Infinity Blade Games From App Store

Long before Fortnite, developer Epic Games launched a successful mobile game series called Infinity Blade. The franchise's three games are no longer available, however, as Epic removed them from the iOS App store on December 10 in a surprising and unexpected move.

Everyone who already has Infinity Blade 1-3 installed on their iOS device can continue to play and re-download them (for the "foreseeable future), but all in-app purchases are turned off.

But why is the Infinity Blade franchise getting the boot? In a statement, Epic said it has become "increasingly difficult" to support the franchise "at a level that meets our standards" at the same time as other ongoing projects such as Spyjinx and "other projects." The statement never mentions Fortnite by name, but surely the battle royale game is one of Epic's biggest focuses right now.

"The Infinity Blade series will always hold a special place for me personally and for Epic as a whole," Epic's Donald Mustard said. "It's always bittersweet to say goodbye, but we are excited for Spyjinx and what the future holds!"

Epic will continue to support Infinity Blade III with more Clash Mobs and other "surprises" over the next month. What's more, Epic is giving away the Infinity Blade Stickers app for free.

What's more, Epic teased that you can expect to see the Infinity Blade franchise appear in "places you wouldn't expect." Just today, Epic announced that a sword weapon is coming to Fortnite--and based on the teaser, it sure looks like the sword from Infinity Blade.

The first Infinity Blade launched in 2010, with sequels arriving in 2011 and 2013.

Infinity Blade is not the first Epic title to get scaled back or canceled following Fortnite's massive success. At the start of 2018, Epic confirmed it was shutting down its free-to-play MOBA Paragon, while just recently, the developer confirmed that it was no longer working on its new Unreal Tournament game. The studio is continuing to work on Spyjinx, an action-strategy game that Epic is working on with Star Wars and Star Trek director JJ Abrams. It was originally scheduled to launch in 2016, but that never happened. The statement today confirms Epic is still working on it, but no new release date has been announced.

Another new Epic project is the Epic Games Store, which recently launched and offers a compelling revenue share split with developers.