EA deal is one of Epic's biggest, says Rein

Epic Games' VP Mark Rein says that the recent Unreal Engine 3 deal with EA is one of the biggest the company has ever done.

Speaking to Videogaming247, Rein said that it was significantly more than the five games EA already has in production.

"I don't want to overstate this deal," Rein said. "It's not like they're going to use it for every single game. But I think we've done pretty well."

"There's still going to be horses for courses," he continued.

"There's still going to be some situations where there's going to be some technology that suits, and there are people still developing their own technology, but I think it's just showing the value of licensing technology in general, and how important it is to maintain productivity and profitability and ship really good quality titles."

Rein said that the company's future is pretty much secure and that Epic is not reliant upon any one licensee. Having invested a lot of money in the engine business, he was glad to see a good return on their investment.

"That I'm aware of, there's no other independent game developer that can really afford to make the kind of investment in technology that Epic has made," Rein added.

"Part of the reason we've made it is because it's just what we do, and another part of the reason is that we felt there would be a strong return on investment both on licensing deals as well as, obviously, the games we produce.

"To us, both represent significant importance, and one feeds off the other. If we didn't make great games, we probably wouldn't sell so many engines."

Rein also took pleasure in the fact that the Unreal Engine is being used for more than shooters, referencing titles such as Undertow and APB - Real Time Worlds' upcoming MMO.

Neither EA nor Epic Games has disclosed the financial terms of their latest license deal.