Epic: 'If next-gen consoles aren't bleeding edge, Apple will beat them'

[Play4Fun]

RolStoppable said:

happydolphin said:

RolStoppable said:

Epic wants to sell their Unreal Engine 4. The Unreal Engine 3 was so widespread this generation, because game development became more expensive and licensing an engine was more cost- and time-effective than building one's own engine. If eighth generation consoles aren't bleeding edge, less developers will need the Unreal Engine 4, because they can simply optimize their existing engines for sufficient results. Therefore, Epic is going to lose out on a lot of money.

If that's the case though, couldn't they just suit UE4 to regular cutting-edge and continue to be relevant? Why the bleeding edge? There must be more going on here.

Bleeding edge and cutting edge is the same thing. I had already typed the below two paragraphs, so I just leave them there. It's mostly a repeat of what I said before though.

The business model of selling an engine like the UE to other developers is built around the fact that creating an own engine would be too costly, couldn't be done in time or both. Since the AAA PC game market is diminishing with more and more developers opting for home consoles, Epic consequently becomes more dependent on the console business as well. Epic spends years on their engines, based on what they expect the next standard in graphics to be.

Now if all three console manufacturers opt for marginal improvements over the current HD consoles, then where does this leave Epic? Hardly anyone will need their bleeding edge Unreal Engine 4, because they can simply optimize their existing game engines and all the money that Epic spent in the last six or so years on their engine will hardly pay off.

OMG.

ROL agrees with me on something!