Wow...

imagine UE4 for MK (12)...

Brutal...

It is absolutely insane how far NRS has pushed that engine.

I would be really interested in learning what kind of changes they made in their version of UE3. I wouldn't have imagined that UE3 could go from what we had in 2011 to now.

I would imagine that although the version of Unreal is technically earlier, they probably added and updated so much of it in house that it's probably parallel to UE4 at this point. Kind or like NRS's own engine that used UE3 as a base template. After all the studio has had a good 8 years plus developing UE3. For that reason I hope fans don't think anything less of the engine; let the visuals and gameplay performance speak for itself.

So if a custom UE3 is being used for the PS4 and Xbox One, what's being used for the Switch port?

Contrary to popular belief, the Switch can run Unreal Engine 4. I can't remember which company is developing the port, but I'd like to think the graphics will be nice.

I would not be surprised if they use Unreal Engine 3 for their next game as well. They could have switched to Unreal Engine 4 for MKX but they did not. They have been developing and maturing the engine so much that I do not think they will change. I am sure they could port whatever tools that Unreal Engine 4 has that they need, over.

I know nothing about game development and coding but.... wouldn't it just be the same customized UE3?

Well, a separate company outside of NRS is developing the Switch port, so it's highly unlikely they're using the same customized engine.

However, the shots of the game shown on the Nintendo website are definitely from the Switch, and they look great. Maybe not as crisp as the PS4/Xbox port, but a lot cleaner. Only six weeks until I can play it!

again, my lack of knowledge on how vidya games are developed may be showing here.

A different company is developing the port but can't they just port over the engine? Obviously this different company will be working closely with NRS to develop the game, it's the same game after all. I figure changing the game to UE4 would be more work than trying to port over the modified UE3.

I have a hard time believing NRS goes "hey we have this game, go make it work on the switch." They probably give them all the assets, all the everything they need.

If they used UE4, it seems like it would be just as much work as creating a whole new game, as opposed to taking the code that works on PS4 and Xbone and changing it to work on the switch.

That ́s awesome!

At this point I don't even want them to switch to UE4. Maybe it's an XBONE thing, but UE4 behaves and looks strange sometimes. Those TEKKEN 7 loading times didn't have me thrilled either.

I wonder if NRS can just patch it with their own brand.. I mean it's funny how people are like "nooo they still use UE3?" Even though the game clearly looks tons better than almost all UE4 games.

In the same twitter thread where the guy confirmed that this game was using UE3 he also said the switch version is using UE3 as well.

Well alrighty then! I never caught that.

Thank you. However, I did want answers about how vidya games are developed.

That’s pretty much it. NRS is of course in charge of principle development. Once they reach a certain point, a dev team is tasked with porting the game over to another system. NRS gives them the assets and they begin work. NRS is supposed to be overseeing the port to ensure quality standards, give notes, and even help the team along.

I doubt it. NRS is anything but complacent. They like to take chances, move forward- I imagine by 2023 they'll have jumped to UE4.

I mean, as long as they build and iterate on this engine and it continues to pay dividends like it obviously has with MK11, I could really care less. They’ve said multiple times that this is pretty much Unreal 3 in name only and has changed so much since the first time they used it, that it may as well be proprietary.

Everybody keeps getting hung up on the label, meanwhile this engine seems to be performing just as well for their purposes as Unreal 4 would.