Developers that use their own proprietary engines argue that the investment is worth the time and money, and consider such internal technical advancements as value-adds for their respective companies.

But middleware provider Emergent Technologies argues that most developers don"t know what they"re getting into when trying to create an engine internally.

“Few developers have a clear understanding of the costs and risks inherent in developing their own engine; nor are they equipped to build all the cutting edge technology elements necessary to build a quality game and maintain them for future iterations,” said Emergent"s Katie Morgan in an Edge interview.

Morgan, the newly-appointed VP of sales and marketing continued, “Developers and publishers either recreate the wheel with internal tech development or make the mistake of using tech from one game for another, even when the design, gameplay, genre and platforms may be entirely different,” she added.

Emergent’s Gamebryo engine has been used in titles from Bethesda Softworks, NCsoft, Firaxis, Sony Online Entertainment, Mythic, NetDevil and various other developers.

Morgan made the common argument among middleware providers that such third-party solutions save developers time and money. “In a world of limited financial resources, leveraging outside technology is just prudent investment,” she claimed.

It’s true that third-party engines like Gamebryo have been used to great effect at many studios, but there are also other dev houses that have found internal engines to be a better fit. For instance, there’s Infinity Ward, whose Call of Duty 4 engine has been built upon and used for Call of Duty: World at War and James Bond: Quantum of Solace. Insomniac is a fervent believer in its internal PS3 engine. Several companies such as Valve, Epic, id and Crytek create engines and use them in their own games while licensing the tech to other companies in the same manner as Emergent.

“Those studios have made enormous investments in developing tech to power their successful game franchises, more than most developers accurately estimate, or are prepared to make,” Morgan added.

“They are subsequently blindsided by the actual cost to maintain a technological edge. And yeah, it’s a mistake to think an engine that was customized and optimized for one game can necessarily be used efficiently for another game – it totally depends on the genre and the intended game play.”