Despite this, the Japanese developers do not intend to abolish the use of third-party engines
In an interview with the Japanese magazine Automaton-Media, the representatives of the Japanese Bandai Namco have told, that the company has started the development of their game engine, which should become the basis for both large-scale games in the open world and potential mobile projects.
The decision to develop its own software was made in 2018 and the active development stage began in 2019. According to the interviewee, the first game based on the new engine can be launched already in a year.
Also, the representatives of the company have narrated about the technical team responsible for development. The team is led by the former lead architect of the past engine of Konami — Fox Engine — Julien Merceron. Now about 50 people are working on the new engine, and right now, the studio is looking for more engineers.
According to the company, the own engine will provide an opportunity to the developers to integrate all the advanced technologies of Bandai Namco, including the NU art library. This new software will also allow the studio to achieve the objects not available to other engines.
However, the corporation doesn’t intend to opt-out of the use of third-party engines, such as Unreal Engine and Unity, in those cases where this is justified.
The company’s most recent in-house-made projects are coming out on Unreal Engine. One of these projects is Scarlet Nexus, the best game of 2021 according to the editorial team, and one of the best ARPG of recent years. Not so long ago, the developers from Bandai Namco shared with the community their plans for the potential sequel of their recently formed franchise.