Square Enix licences Unreal Engine in long term deal

Today Epic Games and Square Enix announced that a multi-year deal has been reached to allow Square Enix to develop games using Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 and Unreal Engine 4.  As Epic’s press release says:

The press release issued by Epic Games points the reader to a mobile game called “Demon’s Score” to showcase the cooperation of Epic and Square Enix.  However, it should be pointed out that this is not the first time that the two Square has used the unreal Engine. The press release makes no mention of Square’s 2008’s RPG “The Last Remenant,”  The game recieved poor reviews in large part due to glitchy graphics, showcasing the slow frame-rates and texture pop-in that plagues poorly-optimized UE3 games.

The press release suggests that sort of debacle will be a thing of the past, however.  As Epic’s PR says:

Epic Games Japan, which is providing local support, worked directly with Square Enix on the new license. This sweeping agreement will supplement Square Enix’s proprietary software and ensure the studio is armed with the most powerful game development tools and technologies available across all major platforms.

With Epic Games on site to help with development, we should hope to see some of the graphical glitches disappear.

As far as the Unreal Engine goes, it’s certianly powerful enough for Square to make great use out of it.  Even if you’ve never heard of it, you’ve certianly played games developed on it.  The list is far, far too long to cover here, but some of the highlights include Batman: Arkham Asylum, Borderlands,  Dishonored, Mass Effect, and X-Com: Enemy Unknown.  In all honestly, I highly doubt any single other game engine has seen such widespread use this generation.

Square hasn’t given much information about the games being developed, but you can be sure that we’ll keep you updated as soon as we know more about it!