14 DAY TRIAL // One of the biggest studios currently active in the gaming industry is Epic Games, which is responsible for franchises like Unreal Tournament or Gears of War. The company is also making a lot of money by licensing its Unreal Engine technology, which powers a lot of the current-generation video games through its most recent version, Unreal Engine 3.
But don't think that the company is resting on its laurels, as one of the top designers from the studio, Cliff Bleszinski, who is responsible for the hugely popular Gears of War series, has revealed that everyone working there is trying to push the limits and deliver the best experiences, whether in terms of video games or regarding the technology used for the Unreal Engine 3.
A huge role in this progress and struggle for improvement is played by the fact that the company has rivals, one of the biggest being CryTek, and its recently introduced CryEngine 3 technology, which also delivers great performance on current-generation platforms.
“If there wasn't a competitor out there we wouldn't have Epic founder Tim Sweeney coming in shouting 'oh my god we have to upgrade this, that and this! We've got to stay competitive!',” Bleszinski revealed. “Without a competitor you just get lazy and fat and complacent. I like the fact that there's competition out there, it keeps our programmers up at night.”
The Gears of War creator has also expressed his opinion on Crytek going into the console market, naming it “intelligent.” He believes that the company will be even more profitable now and will gain a new type of experience, after working for so many years with the PC platform and now announcing that Crysis 2 will be a multiplatform title.
It's quite nice to hear a developer talk about competition and admit that, without it, the end results wouldn't have been as good as they are now. Hopefully this trend will continue and every studio will struggle to deliver the best experiences possible.