Unseen because of E3 last week, a new Swedish game developer called Star Vault announced its presence and revealed that it has licensed Epic's Unreal Engine 3 graphics engine to create a new MMORPG for a release date of sometime in 2009. Other than the game's code name NOW no other details on the game were released.

Official Press Release:

STAR VAULT AB LICENSES UNREAL® ENGINE 3

Unreal Engine 3 to power upcoming MMORPG for 2009

Star Vault AB, an ambitious Swedish game developer, announced today that it has entered into a licensing agreement with Epic Games, Inc. for use of Epic’s Unreal® Engine 3 technology in connection with the development of Star Vault’s next-generation massively multiplayer online role playing game.
Henrik Nystrom, CEO of Star Vault AB comments, “With 11 years of experience in MMO games, we are creating a new exciting world where we set the boundaries and the players set the rules. We are taking our MMORPG to the next level both in player features and in visual contents by using the most powerful game engine, Unreal Engine 3. The engine enables our team to effectively focus on direct game content, meaning jumpstarting development and innovation. We are really excited to be using Unreal® Engine 3 and are eager to show the world our next generation massively multiplayer online role playing game.”
Mark Rein, VP, Epic Games inc. says, “We're excited that new developers like Star Vault, who have such great potential, are recognizing the value of licensing Unreal Engine 3. We know this is the way they can realize their creative ambitions quickly and deliver great games to market. Some of the most significant companies in the game business have licensed Unreal Engine 3 to build their MMO games and Star Vault has now joined an illustrious group. We'll be watching their progress with great interest."


About Star Vault
Star Vault is a new Swedish games company founded by its CEO, Henrik Nystrom who has 11 years of experience within the MMORPG space. The Star Vault team and advisory board today consists of hand-picked developers, 3D-artists and pipeline specialists, with considerable experience from all key areas in developing and launching MMORPG-games successfully. The advisory board alone has 30 years of experience in game development on positions such as technical director and lead programmer on various projects for example the AAA title Ground Control II.

For 2 years Henrik Nystrom has been developing the game plan for a next generation MMORPG-game called NOW, where a number of innovative ideas are materialized. To facilitate the launch of NOW Star Vault has a board with experience to facilitate the financial and business development of Star Vault and access to the capital markets through the public listing on Aktietorget www.aktietorget.se in Sweden.

About Unreal Engine 3
The award-winning Unreal Engine is known for cutting-edge graphics and a best-of-breed toolset. Unreal Engine 3 is expected to maintain those features while adding massive world support, multi-processor support, next-generation console optimizations, and one of the most mature tool pipelines in the industry. Unreal Engine 3's new toolset is designed specifically to accelerate developers' productivity for ultra-complex, next-generation content. Additional information on Unreal Engine can be obtained at www.unrealtechnology.com.

About Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., based in Cary, NC and established in 1991, develops cutting-edge games and game engine technology for PC and console. The company has created multiple million-selling, award-winning titles in their Unreal series and their latest game, Gears of War®, broke sales records on Xbox 360 selling more than 3 million copies worldwide in the first ten weeks and awarded overall Game of the Year for 2006 by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Game Developers Choice Awards, GameSpot, GamePro and many others. Epic is also responsible for the Unreal Engine, which is the underlying technology for a wide range of games including, Console Game of the Year winner, "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell TM" by Ubi Soft; PC Gamer's Game of the Year, "Deus Ex" from Ion Storm/Eidos; "America's Army: Special Forces," by the United States Army, and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (PC) by Electronic Arts. Epic's Unreal Engine 3 is the current holder, and three-time consecutive winner, of Game Developer magazine's Front Line award for Best Game Engine. Epic Games was also awarded Studio of the Year at the 2006 Spike TV Video Game Awards and Developer of the Year by Official Xbox Magazine. Additional information about Epic can be obtained through Epic's Web site at www.epicgames.com.