The head of EA Motive has said that the studio will use Unreal Engine 5 instead of EA’s proprietary Frostbite engine for its Iron Man game.
Patrick Klaus, the general manager of EA Motive, has said that the developer will use Unreal Engine 5 for its upcoming Iron Man game in a update on what’s happening at the studio.
“We’ve chosen Unreal Engine 5 as our game engine, in order to empower the dev team to work their magic and create something really special,” said Klaus. However, he didn’t give any more details on the studio’s decision to switch to Unreal, and why it has decided not to use EA’s proprietary Frostbite engine.
EA Motive’s previous two games – Star Wars Squadrons and the remake of Dead Space released at the start of this year – were both made using Frostbite. The Frostbite engine was originally developed by the EA-owned studio DICE for its Battlefield games, and the engine has since been used across the company.
However, despite being able to produce some undeniably pretty games, Frostbite has come in for considerable criticism from some developers over how difficult it is to use. For example, former BioWare developer Ian Saterdalen said “working in Frostbite was rough,” when discussing the troubled development of Anthem.
In addition to notifying fans of the switch to Unreal Engine 5, Klaus gave a few more snippets of information on the single-player Iron Man title that EA Motive is currently working on. “We’re finding so many opportunities to explore story, design and gameplay with Iron Man, and it’s exciting to see the fantasy start coming alive,” he said, noting that the game is still in pre-production. The studio has also assembled a “Community Council made up of Iron Man and Marvel fans”, which will be offering feedback throughout the development process.
EA Motive first revealed it was working on a “single-player, third-person, action-adventure Iron Man video game” in September 2022, although there is currently no release date – and considering the game is still in pre-production, it’s likely to be a long way off.
Read more: Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space prove that single-player horror is here to stay
