Unreal Engine 4 allows developers to do more with less

Aug 2, 2012 08:27 GMT  ·  By

The introduction of a new hardware generation in the coming year will test the ability of development teams to create games more efficiently or they risk collapsing under the weight of the process, according to the leader of the studio behind Gears of War and Unreal Tournament.

Mike Capps, who is the president of Epic Games, told Game Informer that, “You saw what happened when we went from the Unreal Engine 2 to 3 generation in terms of the complexity of making games and the budgets that came along with that.”

He added, “If we don’t want to have 500-person teams on Gears of War 7 or whatever it is, we have to find a way to increase efficiency because you know next generation is going to have cooler graphics, more power, and more memory, and we’re all going to want to compete to be the very best looking.”

Tim Sweeney, the man who leads the technical evolution at Epic Games, believes that many companies do not yet have a viable business model for next-generation consoles, which might lead to an industry-wide decline.

Epic Games is prepared for the next generation of hardware from Sony and Microsoft because it has already announced Unreal Engine 4, a new game engine, which makes it easier for programmers and designers to collaborate on game projects.

Unreal Engine 4 has only been confirmed for the PC so far, but it’s pretty clear that both Epic Games and other development teams will use it to create titles for the PlayStation 4 from Sony and the Xbox 720 from Microsoft.

The first game powered by Unreal Engine 4 will be called Fortnite and will deliver a cooperative-based survival experience.

Sony and Microsoft have not announced official information about their next home consoles but they might announce them before the end of the year.