The next game from Respawn — Jedi: Fallen Order, unlike previous studio projects, is created on the Unreal Engine. Executive Director of Respawn Vince Zampella and creative director Stig Asmussen named two reasons why the choice was made in favor of this engine.
GameInformer interviewed the developers, and translated App2Top.ru .
So, Respawn did not take to work on the game Frostbite, the engine from EA. The reason is that the newly formed team did not have access to it before joining the company.
“Our development team consisted of just me,” said Stig Asmussen. — We knew that we needed to hire more people and start development from the very basics. I studied Unreal a bit. There were other options, but Frostbite was not even considered. Remember, at that time we were not yet part of EA. I started working with Unreal, and I was struck by how powerful it is. If it was managed by one indie developer, imagine what an entire team can do. That’s why we started promoting Unreal. It was a good decision.”
At the same time, after the merger with EA, the publisher did not force the studio to use Frostbite or abandon the usual methods of work.
But Respawn did not use the Source on which both Titanfall and Apex Legends were created. It turned out that it was easier for the Jedi: Fallen Order team to work with the Unreal Engine.
“When you hire developers, it’s much easier to find people with Unreal experience,” said Vince Zampella. — This engine was more suited to the game we were trying to make. It is better this way than to re-adapt the Source. Among all the available engines, Unreal was the best for the team.”
And in general, the studio does not want to focus on the engine.
“I don’t understand at all why people care what engine we use for Jedi: Fallen Order,” Asmussen was surprised. — I mean, we can make a good game on any engine — if there were skilled people.”
Jedi: Fallen Order is based on the IP Star Wars. The action-adventure game is being prepared for release on November 15 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
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