Gameloft to develop four mobile games with Unreal Engine 3.0

by Steven Mostyn - Mar 1 2011, 18:06

Bolstering the position of gaming on mobile handsets, prominent French software developer Gameloft has this week announced that its future videogame creations will be powered by the third iteration of Epic Games’ popular Unreal Engine.

According to the Paris-based studio, which has crafted award-winning titles such as Castle of Magic and Hero of Sparta, it has signed a licensing deal that will see four Unreal Engine 3.0 games released for the PlayStation Network and devices built on Apple iOS and Google Android.  

“Gameloft is very pleased to partner with Epic, especially with their ability to stay ahead of the curve and continually place the best game engine technology in developers’ hands at any given point in time,” trumpeted Julien Fournials, vice president of production at Gameloft. 

In terms of projected release windows for the four games, all of which are as-yet unnamed, Gameloft has said two should be retail-ready before the close of 2011, while the other two are scheduled to arrive in 2012.

Although Gameloft’s upcoming Unreal Engine 3.0 productions are unlikely to eclipse high-profile home console releases, they’ll certainly serve to strengthen the ever-increasing credibility of mobile games by delivering notably high-end aesthetics.

In terms of respectability, Unreal Engine 3.0 platform was initially created for use with DirectX9 and DirectX10 (via PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3), and has since received acclaim for powering the likes of Gears of War, Batman: Arkham Asylum, BioShock, and Mass Effect.

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