Game Engines
Ongoing coverage on Game Engines.
Latest coverage
Three Epic veterans are building an AI-powered game engine to break the industry's doom cycle
Industry veterans Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient have founded Immens, a new company aiming to develop an AI-powered game engine to challenge established players like Unity and Unreal Engine. The engine will focus on extensibility and flexibility, allowing developers to customize workflows and integrate AI tools to streamline development and reduce costs. The team believes this approach is necessary to break the current cycle of increasingly expensive game development and foster more creativity and risk-taking in the industry.
The Sandbox Rebuilds Its Creator Stack: Engine 14 Lands in Studio Beta
The Sandbox has released Engine 14 as part of its Studio Beta update, introducing significant architectural changes to its development framework. This update replaces the legacy Actor/SceneComponent structure with a unified SceneNode format, improving asset placement and prefab handling. Engine 14 also enhances multiplayer replication and makes AI tools publicly available, aiming to position The Sandbox competitively against engines like Unity and Unreal.
Console Game Development Is Moving to Unreal Engine, and Halo Just Proved It
Halo Studios has transitioned from its proprietary Slipspace engine to Unreal Engine 5 for Halo: Campaign Evolved, marking a significant shift in console game development. This move aims to reduce internal engine maintenance costs, allowing more resources for game creation and faster content delivery to platforms like PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
AI agent that works inside Unity heads to Gamescom as BGA stacks its Aug. 26 lineup
Bezi will demonstrate its AI agent, which operates within the Unity Editor to assemble scenes, edit prefabs, write scripts, and debug issues, at Gamescom on August 26. The Blockchain Game Alliance is promoting the session, which also features a ONEchain demo of an agent-driven gaming economy. Bezi's agent indexes entire Unity projects in real-time and applies changes directly, differentiating itself from tools that only offer suggestions.
Halo: Campaign Evolved’s Troubled Development Led to Multiplayer Project Cancelation – Rumor
A recent rumor suggests that Halo: Campaign Evolved experienced a troubled development, with significant issues arising from the transition to Unreal Engine 5 and mismanagement by Halo Studios leadership. Support studio Abstraction was reportedly removed from the project, leading to work being redone from scratch and contributing to bugs and missed deadlines. This mismanagement also allegedly led to the cancellation of a multiplayer project.
Portal opens Gen8 early access to 20 hand-picked creators
Portal is launching an early access program for its Gen8 game engine, inviting 20 creators to develop games alongside the team and help refine the tools. Gen8 is the third product in Portal's 2.0 roadmap, following Studio and Nexus, and aims to allow users to describe a game and have the engine orchestrate its creation. The company, led by CEO Benjamin Charbit, is backed by Animoca Brands Corporation Ltd.
Dragon Age's former producer had envisioned a 'Champions Edition' equivalent to Mass Effect's Legendary Edition, but he doesn't think it will happen anymore: 'There are basically no companies that could help you'
Former Dragon Age producer Mark Darrah believes a "Champion's Edition" remaster for the Dragon Age series is unlikely due to technical challenges. Unlike the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, which benefited from using the consistent Unreal Engine, the Dragon Age games were built on different, now poorly understood, proprietary engines. Darrah suggests that EA's reluctance to form new teams for such projects further diminishes the possibility of a remaster.
Unity is supplying Netflix Games with a dedicated engine
Unity and Netflix Games have announced a deepened partnership, with Unity providing a dedicated game engine for Netflix's upcoming projects. This engine is already in use by Night School Studio for its new games and has previously powered titles like Black Mirror: Thronglets and Squid Game: Unleashed.
007 First Light Developers Discuss the Glacier Engine in New Behind-the-Scenes Video
IO Interactive released a behind-the-scenes video detailing their proprietary Glacier game engine, used in 007 First Light. The engine, which has roots in Hitman: Codename 47, has undergone significant evolution, with its current modular design emphasizing iteration speed and reusability. The video features insights from senior product manager Andy Touch and technical director Henrik Schlichter.
A Dragon Age Trilogy remaster probably won't happen as no one still employed at BioWare knows how the engine works, claims producer
Former BioWare producer Mark Darrah stated that a remaster of the original Dragon Age trilogy is unlikely because current employees lack knowledge of the proprietary Aurora engine used for Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2. Unlike the Mass Effect trilogy, which used Unreal Engine and was successfully remastered, Dragon Age's older engine makes such a project technically challenging and costly for Electronic Arts. Despite these hurdles, Darrah believes a remaster would still sell well.
STALKER 2's Cost of Hope expansion, and its free but still hopeful 2.0 update, get an August release date
GSC Game World has announced that the STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl expansion, Cost of Hope, will be released on August 20th. This premium DLC will launch alongside the free Update 2.0, which upgrades the base game to a newer version of Unreal Engine 5. Update 2.0 aims to improve performance, lighting, and stability issues.
Halo’s PlayStation 5 Debut Is Out Today, Here’s How to Play Early
Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remake of the original Halo game, is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC for players who purchased the Premium Edition, offering early access ahead of its official July 28, 2026 release. This remake features upgraded visuals in Unreal Engine 5, refined controls, split-screen co-op, online multiplayer for up to four players, and includes three new prequel missions.
Game and Mod Development
Unity announced that Unity 7 will launch in Q1 2027, and that this new engine is a direct continuation of Unity 6. The article also touches on what developers can learn from the current generation of game criticism.
Unity demonstrates 'an Unreal character running through a Unity world' for the first time
Unity demonstrated a Unity Engine game running natively within an Unreal Engine game, showcasing a step towards an interconnected gaming ecosystem. This collaboration with Epic Games aims to allow Unity developers to publish their games within Fortnite, with a new integration planned for early access in 2027. The demonstration featured an Unreal character running through a Unity world with synchronized physics, lighting, and input.
Unity 7 to release in 2027, helps devs "ship sharper graphics"
Unity has announced Unity 7, scheduled for release in Q1 2027 following a beta in December 2026. The new version aims to improve development speed with features like faster shader builds and near-instant Play Mode, alongside enhanced graphics capabilities such as dynamic global illumination and neural upscaling. It will also introduce new monetization tools and improved collaboration features for developers.
What sense can we make of the madness at id Software?
id Software, known for Doom and Quake, has laid off 136 employees, over half its workforce, amidst broader industry cuts at Microsoft. Conflicting reports suggest the studio is starting a new Doom game and its id-tech engine remains active, despite fears of it becoming a support studio. The article analyzes the potential reasons behind these drastic layoffs, including project phasing and cost-cutting, while also questioning Microsoft's strategy and the impact on team morale and institutional experience.
"Built for that world doesn't mean built to require it": Unity reveal their next game engine while walking a careful line around generative AI
Unity has announced Unity 7, the next iteration of its game engine, promising smoother project transitions from Unity 6 and a more open approach to collaboration. While incorporating generative AI features, Unity is emphasizing that these are optional. The engine will adopt CoreCLR as its default scripting backend for faster performance and introduce a new global illumination system. Unity 7 is set for an early beta in December 2026 and a full release in early 2027, aiming to rebuild developer trust after past pricing controversies.
Unity 7 to launch in Q1 2027; new engine is a "direct continuation" of Unity 6
Unity announced that Unity 7, a direct continuation of the Unity 6 architecture, will launch in Q1 2027 after a beta in December 2026. The new engine features a modern CoreCLR foundation, advanced rendering tools like real-time global illumination, and a new CLI and public API for easier integration with artists' and developers' preferred tools. Unity 7 emphasizes flexibility, allowing developers to choose whether or not to integrate AI coding agents into their workflows.
Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 fans might dread the return of Creation Engine, but New Vegas lead Josh Sawyer once called it "incredibly easy" to work with, even if it is "buggy and unstable"
New Vegas lead Josh Sawyer described Bethesda's Creation Engine as "incredibly easy" to work with, despite its known issues with bugs and instability. His past comments resurfaced amid fan concerns about the engine's use for The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5, suggesting it could facilitate faster development cycles.
Inside San Andreas’ TV Set: A Modder Runs Two Full GTA Games at Once
A modder named DryxioGTA has successfully embedded fully functional versions of Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City within a television set inside Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This impressive feat allows players to switch between controlling the protagonists of all three games, with the San Andreas world continuing to run in the background. The mod is available for download, showcasing a unique layering of game engines.