Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4 is one of the most widely used development platforms for videogames as a whole, but also specifically within the field of virtual reality (VR). With the engine available to download for free, the Unreal Engine 4 community has now grown to over 2 million developers worldwide, Epic Games has announced today.
Last month’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Los Angeles, played host to more than 80 in-development videogames utilising Unreal Engine 4, including forthcoming VR compatible titles such as Batman: Arkham VR, Tekken 7, Killing Floor: Incursion, ARK: Survival Evolved and more. Additionally, it should be noted that Unreal Engine 4 has seen significant boost in adoption rates for enterprise purposes in recent months, as well as other areas of entertainment outside of videogames.
Unreal Engine 4 is key to the success of many VR videogames and experiences, and has made significant ground on its most direct competitor, Unity 5, in recent years. While Unity Technologies got an early lead in the race, with Oculus Rift creator Palmer Luckey suggesting that ‘something like 90%’ of Gear VR titles were built using the Unity engine, Unreal Engine 4 has managed to become a leader in the field thanks to higher visual fidelity and aggressive pushes towards numerous groundbreaking VR technologies. Indeed, one of the Gear VR’s most critically acclaimed titles, CCP Games’ Gunjack, was the first on the mobile VR head-mounted display (HMD) to be built using Unreal Engine 4.
The news that registered developers of Unreal Engine 4 has surpassed 2 million comes hot on the heels of Epic Games’ announcement of 1.5 million, only a few months ago at this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC), San Francisco, in March. In that time Unreal Engine 4 has seen significant updates designed to aid VR development, including the incorporation of the VR Editor software, albeit in beta, and support for Google’s recently announced Daydream platform.
Interested developers can download Unreal Engine for free at unrealengine.com, and VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest progress with the engine and its VR components.
