“In the past few years I think we’ve learned a lot about our technology and how it works for indie studios,” Capps related, “How our tech works for iPhone games, for high-end triple-A studios and for a couple of guys who make a cool UDK game over the summer.
“We’re going to apply all these lessons we’ve learned with Unreal Engine 4, and I think you’re going to see a lot of difference with UE3 within the first six months from launch.”
It’s important for Epic to have other developers using Unreal Engine 4 for next-gen launch titles. Capps insisted, “We need to be there day one or very early. That’s my primary focus.”
However, Epic themselves don’t feel the need to release launch games. “For us as a game-maker, we aren’t keen on shipping games day one because there’s not much of an install-base, or at least not one as big as it’s going to be,” Capps admitted, then restated the need to have the engine showcased during the next-gen’s early days. “But with engines, that’s a different story. We want to deliver our tech as early as possible even though our first big marquee game might not be on there for twelve or even twenty-four months from a console’s launch.”
The next-gen consoles from Microsoft and Sony have been speculated to be launching in 2013.
