Square Enix licenses Unreal Engine 3 for multiple games

Square Enix has announced that it plans on using Unreal Engine 3 on "multiple games." The deal was brokered in part by Epic Games Japan.

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Square Enix has announced that it plans on using Unreal Engine 3 on "multiple games." The deal was brokered in part by Epic Games Japan.

"Many Western games have achieved great success with the Unreal Engine, and this milestone reflects the Japanese development community’s trust in our technical prowess," Epic Games Japan's Taka Kawasaki said in the announcement. "We can’t wait to see how Square Enix fuses the power of Unreal Engine 3 with its beautiful characters, enthralling storylines and fantastic gameplay."

The announcement is odd, given the company's investment in its own proprietary engines, including Crystal Tools used on Final Fantasy XIII, the unrelated Crystal Engine for Deus Ex and Tomb Raider, and the Glacier Engine for IO Interactive's games. The company is also working on a next-gen DX11 engine currently called the Luminous Studio.

It's also not the first time the company has used the Unreal Engine. The Last Remnant (pictured above) was an internally-developed RPG using Epic's tech, and was critically panned for its various technological shortcomings.

Given the company's focus on its own internal engines, and its poor history with Unreal Engine, it's surprising that the company is giving the engine a second chance. It's likely that whatever projects utilizing Epic's toolset will be very multiplatform. Unlike Square Enix's own tools, Unreal Engine 3 can be deployed on a number of platforms, including PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Vita, and (probably most importantly of all), iOS.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    November 17, 2011 5:15 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Square Enix licenses Unreal Engine 3 for multiple games.

    Square Enix has announced that it plans on using Unreal Engine 3 on "multiple games." The deal was brokered in part by Epic Games Japan.

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      November 17, 2011 5:19 PM

      mmmmm? maybe next deus ex so we can mod the thing???

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        November 17, 2011 5:29 PM

        ue3 doesn't strike me as a particularly mod friendly engine.

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          November 17, 2011 5:41 PM

          That's up to the developer. And some UE3 developers have been doing as much as they can to discourage mods (for example, Singularity, with its hash-locked binary configuration file).

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            November 17, 2011 6:42 PM

            fair enough, but if its up to the devs with ue3, wouldnt it be up to them on the crystal engine as well? i got the impression that spaeckow would welcome an engine switch because ue3 would allow mods regardless of dev support.

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              November 17, 2011 6:52 PM

              Epic has the UDK, which is openly documented by Epic. I don't think the Crystal Engine is licensed outside of Square Eidos, let alone to the general public. Since Square Eidos would have a vested interest in keeping that engine internal, it wouldn't really be up to the developers to allow modding, and I'd expect to see legal recourse against unauthorized publication of modding instructions.

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                November 17, 2011 7:04 PM

                i dont get it -- why would square be against something like an sdk?

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                  November 17, 2011 7:09 PM

                  Not all engines are open. Most companies keep their engines proprietary, only to be used by their development teams, and/or licensees who shell out the huge licensing fee. Eidos hasn't traditionally been a publisher to openly license engines or promote mods, aside from perhaps the first Deus Ex (which was easy to mod since it was Unreal Engine 1).

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                    November 17, 2011 7:17 PM

                    alright, thanks for clearing that up.

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                    November 18, 2011 8:22 AM

                    It's more likely related to not wanting to deal with time it takes to put an sdk together. Documentation, and support, as well as don't want mods to compete with dlc. An sdk doesn't have to open the engine up as open source, just the game code. Or they could just do the level editor only if they are concerned about stolen engine code. I doubt they are worried other companies are going to steal ideas from their editor.

                    I suppose their could be some legal issues as well. My point really is, it's work to release it and they rather not release it so why go through the hassle?

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          November 18, 2011 8:11 AM

          It's mod friendly if you want it to be.

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          November 18, 2011 8:25 AM

          what? the tools ue3 have are awesome including the script its written with

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        November 17, 2011 6:47 PM

        I hope not, the UE sheen just wouldn't work for me in a Deus Ex game.

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      November 17, 2011 5:31 PM

      This seems kind of surprising, didn't they just show off some stuff from a new engine they're building in-house?

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        November 17, 2011 5:40 PM

        Yeah, they did. Maybe this is for the interim?

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        November 17, 2011 5:42 PM

        Japanese companies are really fragmented, even though they merged or have a couple other companies they brought in - they really do not communicate all that much

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        November 18, 2011 9:53 AM

        The new Hitman is running on an engine built by IOI themselves.

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      November 17, 2011 7:29 PM

      Next Final Fantasy to be a FPS with cover system, heard it here first.

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      November 18, 2011 8:29 AM

      Why is the most important unreal platform the iOS?

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