A curious announcement regarding MMO developer NCSoft has sprung up on the Epic website regarding their Unreal 4 engine. Via Epic Games Korea, they have become the first Korean studio to procure an official license for the, now, eight year old engine. This is being touted as a 'long term' deal, with NCSoft teasing that there are some big titles in the works. Fingers crossed for a revamped City of X, I'm still a little sore about them shutting that down so abruptly. It's also nice to see Unreal 4 finally getting some decent exposure. Considering how well its predecessors, U3 in particular, have done in the past, its high time we saw the next stage. James Bae, NCSoft's Chief Product Officer (now that is a hell of a title!) said the following on the matter:

“Unreal Engine 4 is an extremely fascinating game engine in terms of its unprecedented efficiency and performance. We plan to release our best game ever using our Unreal Engine expertise and the new state-of-the-art Unreal Engine 4 tools.”

Whilst Territory Manager Ray Park of Epic Games Korea chipped in to add:

“NCSOFT’s first Unreal Engine mega hit, ‘Lineage II,’ has remained in Korea’s top 10 games for 10 years, and people have been blown away by the leading-edge Unreal Engine 3 visuals of ‘Blade and Soul. With Unreal Engine 4 in their hands, NCSOFT is set to redefine MMORPG success all over again.”

Interesting stuff. But what are we going to see, do you think? Lineage? A Blade & Soul sequel? More Guild Wars? There's a lot to work with, whilst details are very thin on the ground. We will, of course, keep you informed of anything new as and when it happens. But until then, join us below to offer your thoughts. I'm rooting for a new City of, what about you?