14 DAY TRIAL // Rumors about the existence of new gaming consoles from both Microsoft and Sony have been popping up with more than the usual frequency in the past few months and game developers must be chomping at the bit to play around with new hardware and deliver new tech.
But Mike Capps, who is the president of Epic Games, has said that his firm would want to be present at the launch of a new console but that it would not be a good moment for the company to put out a new game engine.
He told Develop as part of an interview that, “We need to be there day one or very early. That’s my primary focus.”
He added, “For us as a game-maker, we aren’t keen on shipping games day one because there’s not much of an install-base, or at least not one as big as it’s going to be. But with engines, that’s a different story. We want to deliver our tech as early as possible even though our first big marquee game might not be on there for twelve or even twenty-four months from a console’s launch.”
This probably means that, depending on when new gaming hardware will be launched, we might not see Unreal Engine 4 in action for quite some time, as the company works on it behind the scenes but continues to use its current technology for new video games.
Capps also said that he would like to see more hardware integration for the next generation of hardware, allowing developers to deliver projects for a number of platforms with less effort.
Rumors are saying that both Sony and Microsoft will unveil their next hardware platforms at the 2012 edition of E3, with the launch dates set for 2013.
Epic has also showed off The Samaritan, a tech demo for Unreal Engine 4.