Epic Games says it has selected Michigan-based Soar Technology to be its “official partner” in developing military and government applications for its latest game development engine known as Unreal 4. Targets include simulation, virtual reality, 3D, visualization and training uses as well as a tool for use with artificial intelligence.
Soar Technology is better known as SoarTech. It touts the ability to make humans “more capable,” “more informed” and “more prepared” through use of technology for training and other uses.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Epic, which is one of the world’s top videogame developers with Unreal Tournament, Gears of War and others selling millions of copies, also licenses its game development technology under the Unreal title to developers around the world across multiple game hardware platforms.
Unreal also has been utilized in the past for virtualization training and in development of a training game for the U.S. Army.
The latest version of Unreal has been praised for its life-like creation and also its graphics speed. Epic also is making the engine available under a free licensing model.
“We’re excited to be partnering with SoarTech,” said Joe Kreiner, Unreal Engine licensing manager for the Americas. “SoarTech’s long history of success in Government and military research and development makes them uniquely suited to support the application of the UE4 in this market sector.”
Epic says it will look to SoarTech to “tailor license agreements” and to provide technical support, training and development services.
“SoarTech is delighted to be partnering with Epic to represent Unreal Engine 4 in the Government and military sector,” said Dr. Michael van Lent, SoarTech President and CEO, in a statement. “UE4 represents the cutting edge of game technology and, with a free licensing model available and full source code access, it offers a best of breed solution at an unmatched value. Further, this relationship provides an opportunity to leverage SoarTech’s artificial intelligence technologies to explore how UE4 can make our warfighters more prepared, more informed and more capable.”
