14 DAY TRIAL // Epic Games, the studio behind hit franchises like Gears of War or Unreal Tournament, is looking forward to the release of next-generation consoles as it believes the so-called PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 will offer a "substantial leap" over the current generation of devices.
[admark=1]Epic Games has left a considerable mark on consoles like the PS3 or Xbox 360, as its special Unreal Engine 3 technology has been used by many games that appeared on the two devices, as well as on the PC.
Now, after revealing the next gen-ready Unreal Engine 4 last year, Epic has talked about the new consoles and revealed, through the voice of co-founder Tim Sweeney, that it's quite excited about the new devices.
"We’re more enthusiastic now than ever about the future of high-end platforms," Sweeney told Edge magazine.
"What we’re doing on high-end PCs is going to be representative of the future consumer gaming experience and it’s going to be awesome. It’s going to be a substantial leap over the current generation."
What's more, Sweeney hints that the next-generation consoles will certainly make more players aware of digital distribution and that the shift towards buying and downloading games instead of going to a retail store and getting an actual disc will result in better profits for developers, who can then invest them more carefully.
"I’m looking forward to our digital future," he said.
"Development budgets are going to be the dominant cost in the industry, and [increasing] the efficiency of building games will directly improve profitability. As we move more sales of games out of retail, that creates a lot more flexibility for developers to make games at different scales and price them differently."
Epic Games is expected to thoroughly present its Unreal Engine 4 technology once next-generation consoles are actually revealed by Sony and Microsoft this year.