What does Chair Entertainment have in common with Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and Activision? Well, they all have signed deals with Epic Games to use the Unreal Engine 3 for their games. Chair will now use the engine for all its current and forthcoming game development projects.
The agreement between Epic Games and Chair Entertainment covers all the games developed for PS3, Xbox 360 and the PC. Undertow, which will come on the Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA), will be the first game that will be released under the new deal. What’s interesting is that Undertow is the first game on XBLA, which is just 50 MB in size and yet has a 15 level campaign for single-player or co-op, and two robust multiplayer modes for up to 16 players.
Mark Rein, VP, Epic Games said, “We love working with cool independent studios like Chair that are truly focused on delivering value to gamers and creating experiences that break new boundaries in gameplay and creativity. Sure, we love working with the big developers and publishers too, but there’s something really fulfilling about seeing a young company with great talent doing some awesome stuff with our technology. Undertow is just the first great game you’ll see from these guys, prepare to be wowed some more.”
Geremy Mustard, Technical Director, Chair Entertainment says, “The flexibility and technological advantages provided by the Unreal Engine 3 have determined it to be our exclusive choice of technology for next-generation development. UE3 will facilitate our brimming creative vision to spill into the hands of gamers sooner and at a much higher level of quality.”
So along with the biggies, small independent gaming studios are also using the Unreal Engine 3. You might remember, some time ago, even NASA was using Unreal technology to make a game.