Epic Games revealed in a press release today that Street Fighter V, the latest in Capcom’s long-running fighting series, will be developed in Epic’s Unreal Engine 4. The series has traditionally used its own proprietary engines in previous versions, making the move to Unreal a first for the series.
Capcom seems confident in its decision, and producer Bochan Kim noted in the release that this is unequivocally the best move for Street Fighter. If it weren’t, the team wouldn’t be doing it.
Our goal with the next generation of Street Fighter is to take our beloved fighting game franchise and bring it to our fans in the best way possible. In order to fully deliver on that promise, we know we have to incorporate the latest and greatest technology available, which is why we partnered with Epic Games to power Street Fighter V using Unreal Engine 4.
Meanwhile, Epic itself seems genuinely enthused by the move, as Unreal 4 has essentially become a de facto fighting game engine in light of Tekken’s 7‘s similar jump to the technology this past summer. Epic Games Japan’s Taka Kawasaki went on to reiterate his team’s enthusiasm, calling the move a “great honor.”
Related: Street Fighter V is a PS4 Exclusive, Watch the Debut Trailer
Interestingly, it’s been stated that “support staff” from Epic will assist Capcom and fighting experts Dimps with development, ensuring their teams are able to get the most from the Unreal 4 engine. Dimps is used to working with its own tools, so it will be fascinating to see how they adapt to Epic’s pre-existing technology.
Street Fighter V is a PlayStation 4 exclusive on consoles, with a PC release also planned. The game isn’t coming until 2015, so there’s plenty of time to jump engines and adapt to new surroundings successfully — at least in theory. Gears of War cameo characters, anyone? Hey, stranger things have happened.
[Via: Polygon]
