Next Unreal Engine More Console-Focused

After all the conflicting views coming from Epic regarding PC gaming, it's nice to see a piece of actual news regarding Epic developing something for a change. We all know by now that Cliffy B said PC gaming was all but dead and that Mark Rein stepped in, jokingly calling Cliff an "idiot," to reaffirm the commitment that Epic had had and would always have to PC gaming. Well, words don't amount to much around Epic, it seems.

Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic and the technical big brain of the company, has recently said that there will be a "slight" change of focus when it comes to developing the Unreal 4 game engine. If the engine behind Unreal Tournament 3, BioShock and Gears of War, was developed in tandem for both consoles and the PC, the next installment would be more next gen console-focused. Sweeney stated that "Version 4 will exclusively target the next console generation, Microsoft’s successor for the Xbox 360, Sony’s successor for the Playstation 3 - and if Nintendo ships a machine with similar hardware specs, then that also. PCs will follow after that."

For PC gamers, it's pretty discouraging news. After all, the Unreal engines have always broken new ground when it comes to graphics on the PC. But maybe the recent restrained commercial and critical reception of Unreal Tournament 3 has finally convinced the guys over at Epic that consoles basically have a much larger audience when it comes to FPS games.

All is not grim, though. There are always Valve and Crytek to turn to when in need of gorgeous graphics and realistic physics. And both of these seem determined to create for the PC primarily. And if Epic doesn't want to work primarily for the PC, it could very well prove to be their loss as they could drive away numerous gamers that greatly appreciated the Unreal franchise.

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