Wired's Chris Kohler spoke with Mark Rein of Epic Games in an interview published yesterday. In it, Rein reveals some interesting tidbits about his company's blockbuster Gears of War and the Unreal Engine. In light of regular big game budget announcements, it might come as a surprise that Epic's pumped up third-person sci-fi shooter went out the door for so cheap.

We spent less than $10 million to make Gears of War. Somewhere between nine and ten million dollars. People are always saying that making next-generation games is really expensive, and we're saying, you should license our technology. Because we have really great tools for building content and a great pipeline that makes your team more productive...

Just ten million? I'm pretty sure I have that in nickels in the folds of my couch. Anyone out there looking for funding?

Given that Epic's oft-licensed Unreal Engine is presumably helping the compay swim in cash, I'm guessing that Rein and Cliffy B won't be looking for financial help in the near future. Michael McWhertor

Interview: Epic's Mark Rein [Game|Life]

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