14 DAY TRIAL // The Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 versions of FIFA 14 are powered by the new Ignite game engine, and the development team at EA Sports believes that the new technology can be used to vastly increase the quality of all its sports franchises starting with 2014.
Andrew Wilson, the executive vice president at the company, tells IGN that the “multiplier effect you’re going to get in year two or three of five or six or seven different game teams, all investing and innovating on a single code base, and all that innovation rolling back into a single branch which they all start from the following cycle – that’s the real value of Ignite.”
EA Sports was already sharing technology between big franchises like FIFA, Madden, and NHL, but Ignite makes the entire process much easier.
The executive says that, in many ways, the process is similar to how the Frostbite engine from DICE is being used for action titles and shooters by other studios at Electronic Arts.
He adds, “It’s not just about the shared technology; it’s about aggregate investment in innovation now across every team that feeds back in, and that is going to be accelerated for us in year two, year three, and year four.”
Ignite is set to be used in the FIFA, Madden NFL, NBA Live, and the UFC-based series of fighting games.
It’s unclear whether other teams will adopt it at a future date or whether it will forever limited to the four franchises.
EA Sports says that the demands of the tech are so high that it cannot be used on current-gen consoles or on the PC at the moment.
FIFA 14 will be launched on September 24 in the United States and three days later in Europe.
NBA Live and UFC will arrive later for next-gen consoles.