Interview: Tim Sweeney and Saxs Persson on What's Holding Back True Next-Gen Gaming
Tim Sweeney isn't a fan of what blockchain has done to game development. Epic's CEO bemoans "a whole generation" of computer scientists focusing on technlogy such as cryptocurrency, which he believes is impacting the core technology needed to make truly revolutionary game experiences
"There's been a lot of neglect, as everybody's going off...we're missing a generation of computer scientists who would traditionally be pushing forward that set," Sweeney says. "So, we're trying to fill in the gaps in building the research team we have here. I think there are new genres of games that will emerge from the technologies that are just in the pipeline being built right now."
Saxs Persson, Epic's executive in charge of Fortnite's ecosystem, agrees.
"I think it's non-obvious because it's not like the thing you put on screen right now, but most... all game engines really... commercial game engines, their architecture is what it's been for, I don't know, 20, 30 years," he says. "Nothing really has changed. It has to change, or you're just trying to squeeze more blood from that stone. The fundamental programming model has to change in order to break into beyond what battle royale really can do."
The pair is fresh off Epic's State of Unreal presentation, which last week saw the company unveil Unreal Engine 5.2 while rolling out new creation tools and revenue sharing for Fortnite players.
Speaking with IGN in an interview conducted during the Game Developers Conference [GDC], they talked about the potential of the Unreal Editor for Fortnite [UEFN] toolset, which they liken to an evolution of the modding scene that has birthed a host of new genres over the years. They also reflected on state of gaming tech in 2023, which is so heavily driven
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