Today FiringSquad got a chance to chat over the phone with Epic vice president Mark Rein (who was about to head on a plane to go to the Leipzig Games Convention) about their deal with Electronic Arts to licence their Unreal Engine 3 technology for a number of so far unannounced products. Rein said EA had used their technology in the past for games like Clive Barker's Undying and the Harry Potter series. That was before EA bought Criterion Software in 2004. In addition to buying the UK based developer of the Burnout series, Criterion created the Renderware game engine technology that was used in a ton of console and PC games most notably the Grand Theft Auto series.
So why license Epic's Unreal Engine 3 when EA already has its own in-house technology? Rein told us it was simply a matter of good sense for EA to use it. "I think it comes down to smart resource management," he told us about the EA-UE3 deal. While he felt that the Criterion Software purchase has been successful for EA, using Unreal Engine 3 would save them time and money for certain games, but it would also complement EA's own technologies (of course, Rein would not reveal what upcoming EA titles would use UE3 but it's likely that it won't be used for titles like Madden). Rein points out that a lot of other developers that already have their own engine technology also use Unreal engine tech to support their development infastructure. "UbiSoft is perhaps our most successful customer in terms of having a large number of million-selling Unreal Engine games," Rein told us, "but they also use their own in-house tech on games where they feel it fits better. There isn't a one size fits all technology for next generation development. The smart developer puts together an arsenal of the very best tools in the industry and uses them where they are most effective. At Epic we have licensed OC3's FaceFX, Ageia's PhysX, and Oberhumer's LZO Professional for inclusion into Unreal Engine 3. So clearly we're firm believers in this strategy. We also work very closely with select middleware providers to provide the best possible integration experience and support for our engine customers."
With multi-license deals with EA, UbiSoft, Midway, Microsoft, Sony, Atari, Konami, Vivendi Games and more, along with a number of deals with independent game developers, Unreal Engine 3 already has a lot of upcoming games that will use their technology before one single game using the tech has been released (that will likely be Epic's own Gears of War title coming this November). Rein guesstimated that "over 100 games" will use Unreal Engine 3 in this upcoming next-generation console/PC time period of between 6 to 10 years, yet Rein pointed out that "over 500 games used Renderware in the last console generation and we're nowhere near that number so there are lots of successful middleware technologies that will be employed this generation". He also said that Epic still remain well balanced as a technology company and game developer. Titles like Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 2007 are expected to bring in a lot of revenue for the company and Rein says "our experience making games with our engine helps us be a better engine provider and sharpens our focus on providing best-of-breed tools." Currently Epic has about 80 people on staff with approximately 20 of them, including Epic's CEO and founder Tim Sweeney, dedicated to to engine development. Epic will continue to improve and add features to Unreal Engine 3, and its tools, over the next several years as they release not just Gears of War and UT 2007 but other future UE3-based titles as well.
FiringSquad also contacted EA for comment as well and got some quick responses from its corporate PR rep Trudy Muller, who echoed many of the same statements Rein gave us. Muller confirmed that EA would use Unreal Engine 3 primarily for upcoming and unannounced action titles. And what about EA using technology from a game developer that is also making games that compete with EA's action titles? Muller told us that wasn't an issue, saying. "We make games for Sony's console and Sony makes games. We make games for Microsoft's console and Microsoft makes games."
[X360] المزيد حول صفقة EA وEpic
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