How will the release of Unreal Engine 5 change 3D graphics production?

The development costs of computer games continue to soar. Major titles made by major game companies, such as "AAA titles," are now costing over 10 billion yen, and the risk of a title that took years to make not selling is only increasing.

On the other hand, as the number of ways to distribute games without going through wholesalers has increased, so-called indie games made by small teams with low development costs are increasingly becoming huge hits that sell over 1 million copies.

About 20 years ago, indie games were mainly adventure games, role-playing games, and shooters, which were considered relatively easy to make, but nowadays, full-scale 3D action games that sell vast maps and beautiful graphics have appeared.

This has become possible because of the spread of high-performance game engines that can be used for free. A game engine is a collection of software that integrates various functions necessary for game development.

By providing a comprehensive range of elements necessary for game production, such as 3D graphics rendering, physics calculations, sound processing, and input control, it helps developers focus on the core of the game.

In the past, each company would create its own engine and standardize the environment for each game, but this was deemed inefficient, and from the late 1990s, game engines began to attract attention.

Unreal Engine first appeared in 1998. Due to its high functionality and versatility, it quickly became popular among many game developers. Around this time, the game industry, which had previously been dominated by 2D graphics, shifted to 3D graphics, accelerating this trend.

After that, in the 2000s, the sale of game engine licenses became common, and indie game developers also began to use game engines.

The main reason for the popularity of game engines is the abundance of assets that improve development efficiency, but even more than that, it was provided under a business model of free license sales and the spread of the Internet.

Many developers can use it, and if you have a question, you can ask online and someone will answer right away. The maturity of the developer community is behind the popularity of game engines.