While its very common place to hear about tech companies making acquisitions here there and everywhere, that’s not usually the case when it comes to middleware developer Epic Games. Today, the company has announced the purchase of Cloudgine, a cloud computing and online technology business.
Cloudgine specialises in delivering massive compute power to real-time, interactive content, which is especially useful when it comes to videogames, enterprise applications and power hungry virtual reality (VR). One of the reasons Epic Games has bought Cloudgine is that its research and development has been based on Unreal Engine 4, Epic Games videogame development engine which has been used for many a VR title.
It’ll be joining Epic Games as a wholly owned subsidiary, looking to enhance the feature set of Unreal Engine 4 so that developers can further push the technical limits of their VR experiences through advances in physics simulation and networking.
An example of this can be found in Cloudgine’s VR titles They Came from Space and Toybox. The latter was made in collaboration with Oculus Studios, a launch title for Oculus Touch that showcased the features of the new controllers. While the former is Cloudgine’s most recent project. Announced last summer, They Came from Space draws visual and tonal inspiration from classic 1950s B-movie alien invasion films and allows players to annihilate entire cities and landscapes. Utilising unique cross-platform VR and PC gameplay, the online-multiplayer videogame gives VR-players control over massive alien Overseers, which work together with PC-players, dubbed Pilots, who control agile drones.
With the new acquisition neither Epic Games or Cloudgine have confirmed what will happen to They Came from Space, whether its still on for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, or now been shelved.
Additionally, Epic Games is also hiring, recruiting for Cloudgine’s office in Edinburgh, Scotland, where it plans on growing the team to develop leading-edge technology, as well as the other Epic Games UK locations in Guildford, Newcastle and Leamington Spa.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Epic Games and Cloudgine, reporting back with the latest developments regarding VR and AR.
via Mint VR