Company News BioWare Licenses Unreal Engine 3

[Sol Invictus]

Tags: BioWare

In a recent press release, <a href="http://www.bioware.com">BioWare</a> has announced its acquisition of the <a href="http://www.unrealtechnology.com/html/technology/ue30.shtml">Unreal Engine 3</a> license from Unreal developer <a href="http://www.epicgames.com">Epic Games</a>, which is to be used in an unannounced original game, which I assume refers to an original game of their own IP.
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EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada, September 16, 2004 – BioWare Corp. and Epic Games today announced a licensure agreement, whereby BioWare will license Epic’s Unreal® Engine 3 for use in an upcoming title.
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The agreement marks the first time the two companies have collaborated, combining the talents of the premier RPG developer with the premier next-generation engine technology creators. A BioWare development team is already hard at work on the Unreal Engine 3-powered game, an as-yet unannounced title which features BioWare’s third new intellectual property.
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“We’re very happy to license Epic’s advanced Unreal Engine 3 technology,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Joint CEO of BioWare Corp. “One of our development teams will now focus on using Unreal Engine 3 to help us create a great gaming experience in a timely manner. The Unreal Engine has powered some of our favorite games, and we’re looking forward to upholding the great history of this engine with an awesome game from BioWare”. Dr. Greg Zeschuk, Joint CEO of BioWare Corp. added, “Meanwhile, BioWare will continue to independently develop our own cutting-edge engine technology for future titles!”
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We’re thrilled that BioWare has chosen to work with Unreal Engine 3.” said Tim Sweeney, CEO and Founder of Epic Games Inc. “BioWare’s decision reinforces that Unreal Engine 3 is not only a next generation, multi-genre game engine but also that it can work well for all developers, from small teams to world-class, technologically-savvy companies like BioWare.” Mark Rein, Vice President Epic added “BioWare has made some of the best games of all time and we can’t wait to see what amazing things they’re going to do with Unreal Engine 3!” </blockquote>
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Wow. Any bets on what the game will be?
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Thanks to <b>Mr. Teatime</b> for the heads up.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Star Citadel.

Purple Teletubby does Dallas County Jail.

Dragon Age the FPS.

 

[Volourn]

Wow. That's a first. I didn't think BIO was interested in using othes' tech... Hmm.. I wonder what made them decide to got hat route for this game. Hmm.. Espicially, sicne BIO has made it a habit to license their tech out...


"Dragon Age the FPS."

Other options, maybe. Accoridng to the article, DA FPS it iosn't as it's their third (un)original IP it's been licensed for..

 

[Spazmo]

Star Citadel sounds likely, which, depending on how the game ends up (more like KOTOR, more like NWN or more like BG) could be neat.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I'd say Star Citadel is the likely candidate for this one. I don't think it'll be a first person shooter, either. It's probably going to be in the 3rd person, because it isn't as if Unreal Engine hasn't been used for 3rd person games in the past - remember Splinter Cell, Freedom Fighters, Lineage 2 and countless others?

 

[littleboy]

probably something for the next xbox that they want to be able to have on the shelves on or just after launch and had to speed up dev time on.

 

[errorcode]

if they're licensing the engine now then they are most likely shooting for a launch title.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

TORN: 2005

 

[Eclecticist]

Can this engine be used for anything other than FPS? Is it versatile?

 

[dunduks]

Can this engine be used for anything other than FPS? Is it versatile?

Uhh, as Saint already pointed out Unreal engine was used in Lineage II, Splinter Cell etc ...

 

[Surlent]

Whatever game Bio is making with Unreal3 engine, we know who is going to do a sequel for that.

 

[Stark]

hmm... right after reading the news and right before you guys mentioning Star Citadel, I was thinking, could it be BG3?

of course not. they already stated flat outright they're not working on BG3.

hmm... but, you know, the bit about "seeing the fear in the eyes of the orc"... using Unreal engine...

 

[Kamaz]

Maybe its KOTOR3?

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Can this engine be used for anything other than FPS? Is it versatile?

I think most engines can be tweaked for whatever developers want. Morrowind and Freedom Force use the same engine. Deus Ex used Unreal Tournament's engine. Project IGI used the engine of some flight sim.

 

[Sol Invictus]

It's an original game with their own IP. Suffice to say that does not describe either KOTOR 3 or BG 3.

If you want to see the versitility of Unreal in action just play Alien Swarm for UT2004. It's entirely possible to make an isometric game out of it.