14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer Epic Games have announced that it has signed a deal with publisher Square Enix that will see the Japanese company use the Unreal Engine 3 technology to create a number of new video games.
The two companies have not mentioned the names of the new projects and there have been no hints about what genre they might be set in.
Taka Kawasaki, who is the territory manager of Epic Games for Japan, stated when the announcement was made, “It is a pleasure to provide Square Enix with an exceptional game engine that will help them bring thrilling new experiences to legions of fans all over the world.”
He added, “Many Western games have achieved great success with the Unreal Engine, and this milestone reflects the Japanese development community’s trust in our technical prowess. We can’t wait to see how Square Enix fuses the power of Unreal Engine 3 with its beautiful characters, enthralling storylines and fantastic gameplay.”
Unreal Engine 3 might just be the most widely used solution game technology in the gaming world because it allows development team to get access to a number of development tools and to a content pipeline that have been perfected over the years by Epic Games.
It allows teams to skip an important part of the development process and focus on creating story, gameplay mechanics and innovation without having to create their own technological base.
Square Enix has launched a strategy of appealing to Western tastes in gaming, as seen with the release of the Eidos Montreal Deus Ex: Human Revolution earlier during the year, and the Unreal Engine 3 license might mean that more action based titles might be in the works.
Epic Games is at the moment developing Unreal Engine 4, which has been demoed earlier in the year and is expected to be launched alongside the new generation of home consoles.