PS5 and Xbox Series X games graphics will be 'movie-quality' says Epic developer

Epic Games exec reveals what the Unreal Engine 5 is capable of

The Mandalorian
(Image credit: Disney)
Shabana Arif
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The PS5 and Xbox Series X sound like they're going to be game changers thanks to the power both consoles are packing. Epic Games seems to be really excited about the prospect of next-gen games and what they can achieve thanks to the hardware, lauding the PS5's snappy SSD as well as gushing about how good the studio's Unreal Engine 5 looks on both machines.

Now Epic Games' chief technology officer,  Kim Liberi, has chimed in, saying that visuals in games will be "as believable and realistic as a movie", all thanks to the studio's Nanite technology. 

We got a peek at Epic's Nanite demo back in May, and it's also been used in The Mandalorian - which you can watch on Disney+ - to create real-time effects in the elaborate sets which paired physical aspects and real-time computer generated graphics. In an interview with Official PlayStation Magazine UK(via VGC) Liberi explains:

"For many years, the movie industry has been experimenting with Unreal Engine for previsualisation and cinematic shot design, and then last year Jon Favreau and LucasFilm made the leap to use Unreal to generate final pixels for in-camera visual effects on The Mandalorian.

"Yet, there is still the challenge that the movie industry creates almost infinitely complex assets, and for real-time content, we need simplified polygon meshes and normal maps. With Nanite, a new breakthrough technology in Unreal Engine 5, we have removed the barriers.

"You can now create environments with full-quality cinematic assets and the engine does all the heavy lifting, resulting in some truly photorealistic results."

In relation to the tech being utilised in video games, Liberi added:

"It has been a lifelong dream of mine that real-time computer graphics, and in particular games, can be as believable and realistic as a movie.

"Next-gen graphics and processing power will not only make games more immersive, but will also enable entirely new gameplay concepts that can take advantage of fully dynamic environments and lighting, much-improved physics, smarter AI, and richer multiplayer experiences."

Liberi says that the power of the engine is a boon to devs - particularly independents who don't necessarily have the resources to hand that a AAA studio would. In these smaller studios, developers "tend to wear a lot of hats," taking on the responsibility of a number of different roles. 

Epic's new engine will eliminate "the time they have to spend on the technical details of game development" which can the be redirected to into making their games "fun and unique." 

In a nutshell; “Unreal Engine 5 provides creators the freedom to create.” 

Games built with Unreal Engine 5 won't be available until 2021, but it sounds like they'll be worth the wait. 

Source: VGC

Shabana Arif
Shabana Arif

Shabana worked at T3.com as News Editor covering tech and gaming, and has been writing about video games for almost a decade (and playing them since forever). She's had bylines at major gaming sites during her freelance career before settling down here at T3, and has podcasts, streaming, and video content under her belt to boot. Outside of work, she also plays video games and should really think about expanding her hobbies. If you have any tech or gaming tips, shoot over an email or DM her on social media.

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