Mustard has been in the games industry for nearly 25 years. He was originally the founder of Chair Entertainment, where he was also the creative director for acclaimed Metroidvania title Shadow Complex and the mobile fantasy trilogy Infinity Blade. Chair Entertainment was acquired by Epic in 2008, a year before Shadow Complex launch.

Eventually, he became the company’s chief creative officer in 2016, after which he would go on to be the creative lead for Fortnite, overseeing the game’s rise to global prominence, and its continued unprecedented success thereafter.

“After an incredible adventure, I will be retiring from my role as Chief Creative Officer at Epic this month,” he wrote. “I have enjoyed nearly 25 years in the game industry collaborating with some of the most talented people ever and I am so proud of what we have made together. From the ambitious Advent Rising, to the start of ChAIR where we created Undertow, Shadow Complex, and the Infinity Blade trilogy, to the honor of our tiny team becoming part of Epic, each new chapter allowed me to accomplish something new and original. I am especially proud of the opportunity I’ve had to help create and shape Fortnite.

“I am humbled to have been a part of the team that every day tries to bring ‘joy and delight’ to the Fortnite community! We love watching you experience every moment – leaping from the Battle Bus for the very first time, seeing the rocket crack open the sky, dancing with friends after a Victory Royale, being sucked into a black hole or being washed out to sea as The Island flipped over – and on and on! I can’t wait to now share in the future of Fortnite as a player alongside all of you! The teams are in the best hands and they are working on huge, jaw dropping, amazing things!”

Epic has yet to provide details on what leadership changes it will institute for Fortnite and for the company as a whole in the wake of Mustard’s departure.

After an incredible adventure, I will be retiring from my role as Chief Creative Officer at Epic this month.

I have enjoyed nearly 25 years in the game industry collaborating with some of the most talented people ever and I am so proud of what we have made together. From the… pic.twitter.com/HWlNEarU4K

— Donald Mustard (@DonaldMustard) September 8, 2023

Epic Games has announced that the Infinity Blade Trilogy, its mobile action adventure series that actually garnered a fair bit of critical and commercial acclaim for its production values, is no longer available on the Apple App Store. Those who still own the games can re-download them with the same account, though. This will be the solution for the “foreseeable future”.

Why is it being pulled? According to the developer in a public statement, it’s becoming tougher to support the game, with projects like Spyjinx taking up resources. Global creative director Donald Mustard stated, “The Infinity Blade series will always hold a special place for me personally and for Epic as a whole. It’s always bittersweet to say goodbye, but we are excited for Spyjinx and what the future holds!”

Infinity Blade 3 will still see some support over the next month with updated Clash Mobs and special items. Fans can also download an app for Infinity Blade Stickers absolutely free. What’s interesting is the statement at the end of the post, where Epic notes, “Be sure to keep your eyes peeled! You may find Infinity Blade popping up in places you wouldn’t expect.” It then has a trailer for Fortnite: Season 7 at the end. Could Infinity Blade be related to the swords cropping up in the Fortnite: Battle Royale map?

Time will tell, but for now, Infinity Blade’s time has passed. Stay tuned for more information on Epic Games’ Spyjinx in the meantime.

Chair Entertainment are best known for two things- for their excellent Xbox Live Arcade exclusive Metroidvania, Shadow Complex, from a few years ago. And for the iOS series Infinity Blade, which is made using Unreal Engine technology. and always serves as a graphical showcase for the platform, as well as a case for ‘hardcore’ iOS gaming.

Well, if you are one of those people who have, for whatever reason, been curious about Infinity Blade, but refuse to play it on iOS (in which case, why exactly are you curious about it?), then rejoice- it appears that it may be coming to the Xbox One. Well, at the very least, it may be coming to Xbox One in China.

The game will apparently be Kinect based, and it should help the console in the region, where, after a successful launch, it has largely struggled, mostly because of a lack of games on it, thanks to the Chinese sensors.

If you are interested in seeing what it might be like, here is some leaked footage for you.

Powered by Unreal Engine, Infinity Blade was a forerunner for mobile gaming in the day, helping iOS reach even greater heights in its gaming line-up in terms of what the hardcore audience anticipated. The first game will be compatible with most devices, so you won’t need to worry about your iPhone 4, 4S, 5 or 5S running the game. Will it look as sharp on the Retina Display as Infinity Blade 3 does? Maybe not, but it’s still a solid game.

Check out our top reasons why you should Infinity Blade 3 here – and you can even check out our review of Infinity Blade 2, if you’re interested in continuing after the first game, here.

 Well, let’s get the basics out of the way first. Infinity Blade III is an RPG that was released exclusively for iOS 7 on September 18th, 2013 and is promising to be the exciting conclusion to the Infinity Blade series. It’s bringing back the main protagonist from the previous titles as they battle with the Workers of Secrets, and their army of warriors.

This franchise has come a long way since it’s initial release. If you’ve played some of the previous titles you may remember some of the frustration with the controls, and the lack of response. Those are a thing of the past now as ChAIR drives forward, with not only updated graphics, but a better control scheme for all that lovely, real-time combat and swordplay. The game’s story picks up where it left off from the second game, as you try to avenge your father’s death, however things have become decidedly more complicated and deep as this franchise has moved forward, with new villains as well as allies being revealed as the series has progressed.

This post-apocalyptic, world of tomorrow has a strong connection to classic fantasy, though after what seemed like much beating around the bush in previous games it has finally come out that the abilities utilized by the characters don’t revolve around magic at all, but incredibly advanced technology. It’s portrayed in a very magical and indescribable light, however, and really has a fantastic feel to it; and the technology is so advanced it might as well be magic.

Infinity Blade III looks absolutely beautiful, especially for a game that is running on a smartphone. Not only that, but it’s also incredibly flexible. Gamers who aren’t quite ready to make the jump to the new iPhone or to upgrade their OS should still be able to play this as long as they’ve got an iPhone 4.

Now, with that said there are some wonderful little extras that owners of the new iPhone will get, like better graphics, lighting and effects, but even without all the bells and whistles turned on this game still looks gorgeous. While it may not outpace the more graphically intensive hardware, mobile included. The Infinity Blade series certainly takes smartphone gaming to the next level of detail, immersion and good old-fashioned story telling. If you’re worried about the gameplay being centered off of the touchscreen than you can put those concerns to rest. The combat flows well as the player slashes quickly across the screen with their finger to make an attach, and the movement is fluid and smooth when the players are outside of combat.

Gamer’s who own an iPhone should really take this prized piece and run with it. For about $7.00 USD this game is an absolute steal. ChAIR is trying to do what few other developers have attempted, let alone succeeded at in the smartphone Market. With all the saturation of iDevices out there, it’s no wonder this was the platform ChAIR Entertainment chose to go with, but even they may have outdone themselves with the third game in the series. There is some wonderful talent behind this game, from the voice acting to it’s team of developers there’s really a lot to look forward to.

If iFans and gamers really want to see more high quality titles like this in the future of the iPhone, or just mobile hardware in general this is a series that deserves the support of the gaming community. It’s at the very least a wonderful example of how far mobile technology has come in such a short amount of time and all that can be done with a dedicated development team. It’s games like The Infinity Blade series that will continue to push mobile gaming forward and help legitimize smartphones as a power, mobile gaming platform.

According to the Linkedin profile of one of the quality assurance testers over at Chair Entertainment, the people behind the popular Infinity Blade series, it appears as though Infinity Blade 3 is now in development for iOS devices.

The original Infinity Blade was released onto the Apple Apps Store in 2010 to great success. At it’s initial launch the game sold 270,000, netting over $1.4 million in the first four days after release. Up to this point, Infinity Blade was the fastest grossing app ever released for iOS.

In 2011, the teams at Chair Entertainment and Epic Games outdid themselves, releasing Infinity Blade II to much critical acclaim. IGN scored it a perfect 10/10, making it the only game for iOS to receive a perfect score on their website. GameSpot dubbed the game “the perfect sequel,” giving it a 9/10 rating.

With such successful games as Infinity Blade I & II, we can’t help but expect the highest caliber of gaming from the upcoming Infinity Blade III, if this profile update proves true.

A Microsoft rep confirmed to GIBiz that “Kendall Boyd has joined Microsoft Studios as Director of Halo Global Marketing. We’re thrilled to welcome him into the Halo fold, but have no other details to share at this time.

Epic confirmed it as well. “Yes, Kendall Boyd has left Epic Games to join our long-time partner Microsoft. We wish him well on his new adventure. We aren’t announcing our plans for the role right now,” according to their spokesperson.

Boyd worked on the marketing for Unreal Engine and the Gears of War and Infinity Blade series. He also worked in THQ and EA Sports, and has experience marketing the WWE and NCAA Football series.

Add another to Epic Games’ losses after the departure Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski and president Mike Capps.

Rather than going on a debate, and writing word after exasperated word, it all boils down to questions. In light of these, how can casual games be called “meh, casual” while hardcore games remain their holy tag of awesomeness? How can we be told, as console gamers, to “respect” mobile gaming when putting it aside into it’s own category is discriminating enough already (yep, I’m playing the race card here)? And just who’s casual and hardcore in the first place?

Here are the questions in…er, question:

1. Are casual games “casual” because they reach a larger audience, or because there are more of them in a year than “AAA” releases? Is distribution and ease of access a better defining factor than unit sales and long development cycles?

2. What’s the distinction between today’s “causal” games and the old-school puzzlers and platforms? Many of them, like their console brethren, feature the same mechanics and far better graphics – but do we consider the first Legend of Zelda casual? Is Tetris casual? Almost every so-called casual gamer has played Mario in some form or the other. Does that make it a “casual” platformer?

3. A number of “hardcore” franchises have found new life on the mobile. Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes and The World Ends With You: Solo Remix are two such titles. Does optimizing these titles for the mobile gaming platform suddenly make them casual? Or are they just hardcore titles on a casual platform – which leads to the next question…

4. Is mobile gaming “casual” simply because of the people who play it? How is some one who enjoys Call of Duty more “hardcore” than some one who plays an RPG hack-and-slash like Infinity Blade 2 and Bastion or tower defense like Anomaly: Warzone Earth and Plants vs Zombies?

5. Is it the games or the audience that defines whether a console is hardcore? Does the sheer number of people partaking in a particular game make it more “casual” or simply more popular? Take the example of other media: Is Terminator 2 considered non-serious cinema despite being one of the most commercially successful action films of all time? Is Fight Club meant for readers of all ages, despite it’s iconic status among novels?

6. How are handheld games not considered “casual”? Despite packing more power and featuring classic titles like Ocarina of Time and newer, more faithful renditions of series’ mechanics like Killzone: Mercenary, they essentially have a wider reach than consoles. This ties into the Question 3: If it’s optimized for that platform, even significantly changed, does that make it any less hardcore than it’s predecessor or bigger brothers?

7. Are console games more “hardcore” because of their length and content? Because they can hold larger amounts of content, with cutscenes and plot and side-missions? Because they feature more complex controls and inventory systems? They can be considered what I like to call, “playable” and “unplayable” considering how well they execute the above.

8. Where exactly does indie gaming fit into the “casual” vs “hardcore” debate? Are they less hardcore because they have smaller budgets, or more casual because they have smaller budgets? Is Dust: An Elysian Tail hardcore because of it’s mechanics or casual because of it’s overall length and layout? Is Super Meat Boy hardcore because of it’s difficulty or casual because of it’s simplicity?

9. If this wasn’t clear before, I’ll state it again: If you think playing Assassin’s Creed or Call of Duty each year makes you “hardcore”, smack yourself. People who watch a new Saw or Paranormal Activity don’t call themselves “hardcore” horror movie fans either.

10. What is the point of all these questions? For this one we have an answer: The debate is bunk. Distinguishing between games on the basis of their platform is quickly becoming ridiculous. The increasing power of tablets and smartphones, bringing bigger titles to the platform, has nothing to do with it. Putting a set of factors deciding who’s more dedicated to video games doesn’t work, for the simple reason that everyone, everywhere is playing a game of some sort. Some one might be better at Fruit Ninja than you – does that make them more “hardcore” or the game more “casual”?

The logical conclusion is to remember that games are meant to be fun, and that graphics, development platform and scale aren’t the best yardsticks for deciding a game’s fun factor. If nothing else, the advent of gaming across several new platforms and markets shows that just about anyone can be a gamer, regardless of whatever tag makes the most sense.

Now, $30 million may not be much, but for an iOS franchise it is. We have all heard how iOS is killing dedicated handhelds, but when you look at how minuscule these numbers are compared to handheld games like Mario, iOS definitely has a long way to go.

The first game grossed over $23 million, and the second one which we reviewed over here, grossed over $5 million. Of course, it just released recently, so it’s completely understandable.

“The success of the Infinity Blade franchise is testament to our talented team who is devoted to making games we want to play, all while using Unreal Engine technology to redefine what is expected from games on iOS devices,” said Epic Games president, Mike Capps.

“We have so much more in store for players, and will continue to make great content for Apple’s evolving platforms.”

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Thanks, Next-gen.biz.

Drool worthy isn’t it. Well, this arcade cabinet is playable around 57 Dave & Buster’s restaurants in the US this October. It is called Infinity Blade FX and features a 46inch monitor in the middle. Oh, and it is huge.

The game was really popular and was downloaded by a lot of people. It’s one of the iOS games that were kind of expensive but were received well by the gamers and critics.

Epic recently announced a sequel to the game called Infinity Blade 2, d’uh. “With Infinity Blade 2, we’re pushing the boundaries of everything achieved to date and adding a ton of new content and unique new features to create the must-have gaming experience on iOS,” said Chair creative director Donald Mustard.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Does the arcade cabinet look awesome? Let us know.