Codemasters is developing EA WRC using Unreal 5, after spending 16 years on its own Ego engine, and will only release the game for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Despite being acquired by Electronic Arts in 2021, Codemasters will not use the Frostbite engine for EA WRC, even though many other EA teams do. Several factors were supposedly considered, but the ability to carry over Codemasters’ famed handling physics into the new engine eventually swung matters in Unreal Engine’s favor.
Here’s What Codemaster’s senior creative director had to say about the shift
“Ego was a fantastic engine for us and we made a lot of incredibly good games on that, but it had reached a point where we wanted our stages to be longer and longer and our environments to be bigger and visually richer,” Ross Gowing, Codemasters senior creative director.
On the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, Colin McRae: Dirt introduced the Ego engine. F1 21 F1 22 and Grid Legends were no longer available as cross-generational releases, making EA WRC the first game from Codemasters to exclusively be released on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in addition to PC.
The decision to abandon the Xbox One and PS4 wasn’t just motivated by the engine switch, though; it was also influenced by the overall trend toward larger, more detailed games. Despite having a brand-new engine, EA WRC won’t include driver ratings for the first year. On November 3rd, 2023, EA WRC will instead be made available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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