Final Fantasy mega-company of the East, Square-Enix has signed up to make some of their next games using the Unreal Engine 3 – the same engine used for blockbuster games like Mass Effect, Gears of War and…uh, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust.
There are a LOT of Unreal Engine 3 games, and It’s not Square-Enix’s first rodeo with the engine, either – in 2009 they used the engine with The Last Remnant; but it is interesting to see them move away from their typically proprietary base.
Perhaps it’s a sign of influence from the company’s expansion into western markets, having acquired Eidos, and forging its stronghold in Europe – after all, it’s probably more effective to work around an engine that’s pretty established.
Interestingly – and this is purely my own inference here – this may put a bit of a damper on our hopes of seeing anything truly “next-gen” any time soon.
With Unreal Engine 4 being a shoe-in for next-gen technology, it makes one wonder why a mega-corp like Square-Enix would be investing in a “dated” engine right now? Perhaps that elusive next-generation is still a ways off.
I suppose only time will tell.
Source: Unreal Technology
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