Square Enix Licenses Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3
The title says it all, Square Enix anounced today they have licensed Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 to be used with upcoming next-generation games. This is a first for Square Enix because they have always done their own in-house game development and never relied on another company’s engine to make Square Enix games. The only question I could think of from this announcement is how will this effect how the games look? Square Enix has always been known for it’s amazing graphics no matter what the console was. Will this better them or make them worse? Only time will tell.
One thing to note from the press release,
in order to ensure both game quality and development efficiency for next-generation game systems including consoles, PCs and network titles
I hope that’s a hint at multi-platform releases. I think Square Enix would be a lot more successful if they released their games on multiple platforms on day one. I’m sure they’d sell 2 or more million copies of their games if they take that route.
Official press release after the break.
Square Enix Licenses Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3
Middleware to be Utilized in Square Enix’s Next-Generation Game Development Process
Tokyo, Japan, (Jan. 25, 2007) – Square Enix Co., Ltd. today announced a licensing agreement with Epic Games that enables Square Enix to introduce Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 middleware into its next-generation game development process.
Square Enix has built its highly successful franchises such as FINAL FANTASY®, DRAGON QUEST® and KINGDOM HEARTS by pushing game consoles to their limits and providing unparalleled user experiences for more than 20 years. This was achieved through the company’s proprietary technologies, which were mostly optimized for each game given the limited resources of game consoles. However, in order to ensure both game quality and development efficiency for next-generation game systems including consoles, PCs and network titles, Square Enix is now building a technology platform to be used throughout the company utilizing proprietary technologies as well as introducing third-party solutions such as Unreal Engine 3.
“The complexity of next-generation game systems featuring HD graphics and multi-core parallel processing poses a number of technological challenges to our game development. However, we can expedite our game development process significantly while allowing extra time and resources to be spent on game design and mechanics by establishing an effective technology platform,â€? said Taku Murata, General Manager, Research and Development Division, Square Enix, Co., Ltd. “The technology platform for game development is becoming more important than ever. I’m excited to be partnering with Epic Games in such an important area.â€?
“We’re extremely excited to be working with Square Enix,� said Jay Wilbur, Vice President, Epic Games, Inc. “Square Enix is one of the biggest and most influential companies in the world-wide game business, and having them work with Unreal Engine 3 is a major honor for us and something we’re very proud to be announcing.�
January 25th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
[...] Source: http://www.1pstart.com [...]
January 26th, 2007 at 9:44 am
[...] Yesterday’s Square-Enix news wasn’t the only thing Epic Games had up their sleeves. Epic has announced that the upcoming Unreal Tournament 2007 will be coming to the Xbox 360. And that’s not the only news. Unreal Tournament 2007 is getting a name change to Unreal Tournament 3. I know, I know, if your keeping score at home of the different Unreal Tournament games, you’ll know that this one would mark the 4th game in the series, but I’m pretty sure the reason they chose to call it Unreal Tournament 3 is due to the Unreal Engine 3 running under the hood. [...]