Unreal Engine 4 Into Full Development This Year?

Unreal Tournament 3

Some might say it's too early to look forward to the next generation, but then again, without forward thinking, it's easy to stall and stagnate. And Epic Games obviously agrees with that sentiment.

Many FPS fans are still probably enjoying Unreal Tournament 3, and we've already seen many next-gen titles that use the effective Unreal Engine 3. But now, Unreal Engine 4.0 should be in the works, which may mean Unreal Tournament 4 will debut with the next generation of consoles, as Engine 4.0 is designed specifically for things like the PS4 and Xbox 720. It was almost three years ago that Epic's Mark Reini revealed they've already started work on the fourth iteration of the popular engine, and the VideoGamesBlogger reminds us what Epic Games' Tim Sweeney said back in March:

"There is a long life ahead for Unreal Engine 3. [Unreal Engine] Version 4 will exclusively target the next console generation, Microsofts successor for the Xbox 360 [AKA Xbox 720], Sonys successor for the PlayStation 3 [AKA PlayStation 4] - and if Nintendo ships a machine with similar hardware specs [AKA Wii 2], then that also. PCs will follow after that."

Rein later clarified by saying that Unreal Engine 4 will be for the PC as well as the next generation of home consoles; it won't be for this generation's set of the PS3 and 360. However, the source says development on the fourth Unreal engine "will fully start some time in 2008." Yep, that's forward thinking all right. We're talking about some pretty nifty technology, after all, so they'll need the time, but by now, we have complete faith in Epic.

Related Game(s): Unreal Tournament 3

6/8/2008 Ben Dutka

Put this on your webpage or blog:
Email this to a friend
Subscribe to Ben Dutka on Twitter