New game releases of May 20-26
Killzone: Mercenary shoots onto Vita on September 10
Trion Worlds hit with more layoffs, Defiance team impacted
Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault defending Vita next week
Game & Wario was originally going to be pre-installed on Wii U
The Last of Us digital download lets you start playing sooner
Weekend PC download deals: Borderlands 2 for $11
Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection coming to PS3 in July for $50
Madden NFL 25's $99 'Anniversary Edition' includes Sunday Ticket
Final Fantasy 8 getting PC re-release (in Japan)
Bungie Crafting a New Engine 'From the Ground Up' for its Upcoming Activision-Published Game
by Xav de Matos, Sep 14, 2010 3:00pm PDTWith Halo: Reach finally on store shelves--read our review here--it's time for Bungie Studios to say goodbye to the franchise that helped propel them into into superstardom.
According to Develop, Bungie won't only walk away from the Halo universe, the developer has decided to ditch the franchise's constantly updated, but aging engine in favor of new tech that will power its next intellectual property.
Rather than license a third-party option, like CryEngine 3 or Unreal Engine 3, Bungie has decided to build its own engine from the ground up, presumably to better transition its new IP into the next generation of consoles.
"I think it goes hand-in-hand with our independent spirit," Bungie community lead Brian Jarrard said. "Just like we don't want to develop a game off someone else's IP, we want to push our own technology in the same way. That's going to be our position for the foreseeable future." In late 2007, Bungie and Microsoft announced a deal that would see the developer regain its independence, after being acquired from the console maker on June 19, 2000.
Although rumors swirled around Bungie and its future following an E3 2008 reveal snafu and eventual release of Halo 3: ODST in September 2009, the industry was still surprised to learn that the dev had signed an exclusive ten-year publishing partnership with Activision. Soon afterward, it was revealed that its next franchise would see release across "all platforms."
According to Jarrard, the tech for its next franchise is still in development; however, with Reach in stores, the "full weight" of Bungie's staff has completely shifted to its next venture. Those folks should consider taking a weekend off, sometime.
Comments
Do Bungie think they can write a better engine?
Is there some other business factor I'm not seeing?
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 32 replies.
Let me put it simply for you, licensing an engine is like letting someone else pick your car for you with no ability for you to choose. if they are similar to you, you might be in luck. But you've given up control. You are bound by someone else's decisions. part of Midway's downfall was their decision to license and force all internal studios to use the Unreal engine _without_ realizing the ramifications that this decision would have for them in the production of their titles. I said part, not all, but it was a big part.
If you want features that are substantially different from the licensed engine you will end up ripping out sections of the codebase that you've paid for. And most games built on an engine will bar superficial rendering, physics, control, animation, loading and world size similarities/constraints no matter how much the licensor may try to change the engine. If you pay for engine X you WILL feel like engine X, that is what you are paying for.
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