Atari Inc. and Epic Games announced that Atari has obtained the rights to use the Unreal Engine 3 and tools for games on next-gen platforms in a multiple-licensing agreement.
Were excited to continue building our relationship with Epic Games and we look forward to tapping the potential of Unreal Engine 3 technology, said Jean-Marcel Nicolai, svp of Worldwide Product Content, Atari Inc. By utilizing the Unreal Engine 3, Atari will gain rapid prototyping capabilities.
Weve had a long-standing licensing and publishing relationship with Atari and it is especially gratifying to me to see our technology partnership continue, added Mark Rein, vp and co-founder of Epic Games. Were confident that Atari will make several great games with our technology and look forward to working with the company and its developers in achieving that goal.
The award-winning Unreal Engine is known for cutting-edge graphics and a best-of-breed toolset. Unreal Engine 3 is expected to maintain those features while adding massive world support, multi-processor support, next-gen console optimizations, and one of the most mature tool pipelines in the industry. Unreal Engine 3s new toolset is designed specifically to accelerate developers productivity for ultra-complex, next-gen content. Additional information on Unreal Engine can be obtained at www.unrealtechnology.com.
Epic Games Inc. (www.epicgames.com), based in Raleigh, North Carolina and established in 1991, is a developer of cutting-edge computer and video games. The company is best known as the creator of hit PC 3D action games UNREAL and UNREAL TOURNAMENT, both award-winning blockbuster hits having each sold more than one million copies. Epic is also responsible for the Unreal Engine, which is the underlying technology for a wide range of games, including, 2002 Console Game of the Year winner, TOM CLANCYS SPLINTER CELL, from Ubi Soft; PC Gamers 2000 Game of the Year, DEUS EX, from Ion Storm/Eidos; AMERICAS ARMY: SPECIAL FORCES, from the United States Army; and HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERERS STONE (PC) from Electronic Arts.
New York-based Atari Inc. (www.atari.com) develops interactive games for all platforms and is one of the largest third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Companys 1,000+ titles include hard-core, genre-defining franchises such as DRIVER, THE MATRIX (ENTER THE MATRIX and THE MATRIX: PATH OF NEO), STUNTMAN and TEST DRIVE; and mass-market and childrens franchises such as Nickelodeons BLUES CLUES and DORA THE EXPLORER and DRAGON BALL Z. Atari Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Ent. SA, the largest interactive games publisher in Europe.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
