Epic Games Has Seen PS4/Xbox 720 Specs, They’re Not Powerful Enough

Epic Games has a unique position in the games industry because Unreal Engine, owned by the venerable firm, is used by more developers than any other. Because of this, the company’s bosses believe they have the ability to help shape what next generation games should look like, however after seeing PS4 and Xbox 720′s specs, they’ve concluded it’s not enough and are actively lobbying Sony and Microsoft to make the next PlayStation and Xbox more powerful.

“There is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of our engine team and our studio to drag this industry into the next generation,” said Gears of War design director Cliff Bleszinski in a Wired article. “It is up to Epic, and Tim Sweeney in particular, to motivate Sony and Microsoft not to phone in what these next consoles are going to be. It needs to be a quantum leap. They need to damn near render Avatar in real time, because I want it and gamers want it – even if they don’t know they want it.”

Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney added: “We’re much more in sync with the console makers than any other developer is. That means we can give detailed recommendations with a complete understanding of what is going to be commercially possible.”

With the recently released Unreal Engine 4 screenshots, Epic Games is hoping to set a high standard for the next batch of consoles, and we applaud them for their efforts. But will Sony and Microsoft take seriously what the firm has to say? Because although Epic Games is giving advise freely, at the end of the day it’ll take lots of cash to have PS4 and Xbox 720 render such visuals, and we all know who’s footing the bill.

Unreal Engine 4 will be unveiled at E3 next month.