Fortnite, Max Payne, Unreal Engine 5… the business news of the week

Business news Fortnite, Max Payne, Unreal Engine 5… the business news of the week

Unreal Engine 5 is officially available to developers

Just under a year after its early access debut, the Unreal Engine 5 is now entering its official launch phase and is freely accessible via the Epic Games launcher. The economic model is the same as that of the Unreal Engine 4: the use of the engine is free with a standard license as long as the developed game has not reached a million dollars in revenue. Once this level is exceeded, Epic Games will refund 5% of the royalties.

Since its announcement in 2020, many studios have already adopted Unreal Engine 5, including Xbox (Rare, The Coalition, Ninja Theory, Double Fine, Obsidian, InXile, Undead Labs) and PlayStation (Firesprite, Haven). Among the titles currently developed with the engine, we can mention the next Tomb Raider from Crystal Dynamics, the next The Witcher, Dragon Quest XII, Hellblade II, STALKER 2 or ARK 2.† It must be said that it offers attractive new technologies such as Nanite (geometry virtualization), Lumen (real-time global illumination), Temporal Super Resolution (image scaling system) or MetaSounds (procedural audio renderer). It also promises tools to facilitate the creation of open worlds: “a new world partition system changes the way levels are handled, automatically dividing the world into a grid and casting the cells needed”can we read in the Epic Games press release†

The engine includes two demo projects: City Sample, which uses the city featured in the PS5 and Xbox Series tech demo The matrix awakenswhile Lyra Starter Game is a multiplayer shooter described as “an excellent starting point for creating new projects”† Xbox studio The Coalition (Gears of War) has also unveiled a tech demo called the cave†

Remedy signs with Rockstar for a remake of Max Payne 1 and 2

Remedy is already working on several projects and has just signed on for a new major project: the Finnish studio has signed an agreement with Rockstar Games to develop a remake of Max Payne and Max Payne 2, which will be consolidated into a single title slated for PC, PS5, and Xbox series. Everything will be developed with the studio’s Northlight engine (used on Quantum Break and Control) and will benefit from an AAA budget funded by Rockstar. Under the agreement, Remedy will be eligible for royalties once Rockstar has written off its development, marketing and distribution costs.

We were thrilled when our old friends at Remedy approached us about making a remake of the original Max Payne games. We’re huge fans of the work the Remedy team has created over the years, and we can’t wait to play these new releases. Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games.

Max Payne has always held a special place in the hearts of everyone at Remedy, and we know millions of fans around the world feel the same way. We are thrilled to be teaming up again with our partners at Rockstar Games for the opportunity to bring the story, action and atmosphere of the original Max Payne games to players in new ways. Tero Virtala, CEO of Remedy.

Recall that Remedy had developed the first two Max Payne games released in 2001 and 2003, while Rockstar, which owns the rights to the franchise (through its parent company Take Two Interactive), took care of Max Payne 3 directly from 2012 onwards. to be patient for the arrival of the remakes since the project is currently in concept development phasefar from the production stage.

With more than 300 employees, Remedy is also working on Alan Wake II
with Epic Games Publishing, multiplayer game Vanguard with Tencent Games and new Control games (a multiplayer sequel and spin-off) with 505 Games. In the batch, only Alan Wake II has a release window: 2023.

Fortnite raises $144 million for Ukraine

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, many studios and players in the video game industry have mobilized to support humanitarian efforts in the country. For example, Riot Games has raised $5.4 million thanks to League of Legends players, bundles from the Humble Bundle and Itch.io sites have raised more than $16 million…

For its part, Epic Games has taken advantage of its golden egg-chicken Fortnite† The publisher has decided to donate all profits made by the game to five organizations for two weeks : DirectRelief, UNICEF, World Food Programme, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and World Central Kitchen. The chosen period (March 20 to April 3) coincided with the launch of a new season and the no-build mode. Result: $144 million was raised. A colossal amount that includes the profits from all real money purchases made in Fortnite (V-bucks packs, Fortnite Club packs, cosmetic packs purchased with real money…). Note that Xbox also helped to increase the prize pool by giving up its share of the winnings during the same period. Remember that a manufacturer generally receives a 30% commission on every transaction that takes place in their store.

Just in the business news of the week

• Kirby and the Forgotten World takes the lead in sales in the French physical market for the week of March 21 to 27. He is followed by Pokemon Legends: Arceus† Mario Kart 8 Deluxe† Gran Turismo 7 and Ghostwire Tokyo†
• Focus Entertainment has joined forces with Toulouse-based studio Rundisc to publish their next game, Chants of Sennaar, an exploration/puzzle game title inspired by the myth of the Tower of Babel.
• Wargaming (World of Tanks, World of Warships…) has decided to leave Russia and Belarus, the country of origin† Operations in these areas have been transferred to a former Saint Petersburg subsidiary, Lesta Studio, with which the company has now severed ties. decided after “a strategic review of its business activities worldwide”this action will lead to “significant losses” for the group, which has approximately 5,000 employees in more than 20 offices around the world.
• director of Days gone byJeff Ross Just Announced He’s Joined Crystal Dynamics as design director, without specifying on which project. It could be the next Tomb Raider, the reboot of Perfect Dark (in which The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics team up), or any other game that hasn’t been announced at this time.
• SNK Corporation, the Japanese company known for Neo-Geo, The King of Fighters and Metal Slug, is now 96% owned by Saudi Arabian foundation MiSK† It is headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who also invested $3.3 billion in EA, Activision Blizzard and Take-Two last year. More recently, it was the Saudi Public Investment Fund that bought 5% of the shares of Capcom and Nexon, as well as all of the ESL and FACEIT.
• Epic Games and LEGO have Announcement their collaboration to… create a metaverse for kids† The press release speaks of a “family-friendly digital experience” That “will give children access to tools that help them become confident creators and provide them with incredible play opportunities in a safe and positive space”†
• THQ Nordic gives us an appointment on August 12 for an online conference featuring new game reveals and news of previously announced titles.
• 1,100 temporary employees of Activision Blizzard, more specifically of the Quality Assurance (QA Testing) department, are hired full-time and receive a salary increase to a minimum of $ 20 per hour. On the other hand, this is not about the Raven Software employees who have decided to unite. Activision Blizzard justifies this “due to (its) legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act”†