Console engine licensing

[zurich]

Hmm.. considering how long it takes to come up with a solid engine (re: MP), I wonder if ID hasn't considered farming out the Doom 3 engine to the Xbox masses. It'd be a good way to show the system's superiority AND cut down on dev time.

Splinter Cell's a good example of a flexible engine (Unreal Warfare) put to good use, imo.

Generally speaking, what are the costs of licensing? And are PC-centric engines (Q3, Unreal, Lithtech) cheaper than Console-centric ones (Renderware)? I know RW comes with a whole suite of tools for sound, i/o, etc... is this lacking from PC engines too (all you hear about are the gfx)?

Sorry if this is -like, I've just always wondered!

 

[Vince]

Generally speaking, what are the costs of licensing? And are PC-centric engines (Q3, Unreal, Lithtech) cheaper than Console-centric ones (Renderware)? I know RW comes with a whole suite of tools for sound, i/o, etc... is this lacking from PC engines too (all you hear about are the gfx)?

Hehe.. good question:

I don't know console costs, but last time I heard Lithtech was ~ $250,000 and ID's Quake3 engine was substantially higher with Unreal in the middle. But this is going back quite a bit.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

AFAIK Quake3 is $1 million + royalties (5% maybe). Plus Id only sells it to selected partners.