No more engine share from id Software

Tech-savvy studio id Software has suggested it is moving away from the business of licensing out its game engines.

The group’s sophisticated id Tech 5 engine – used in projects such as Doom 4 and Rage – will not be available to external studios.

id Software co-founder Todd Hollenshead told Eurogamer that the engine would be set aside just for games published by its owning company ZeniMax.

Previously, id Tech engines have been licensed to UK indies Splash Damage, and US group Human Head Studios. The tech had provided the basis for the Infinity Ward engine – made famous in titles such as Modern Warfare.

As well as id Software, Zenimax owns Arkane Studios, ZeniMax Online Studios, as well as the devloper and publisher Bethesda Softworks.

id Software’s long-running rival Epic Games – also based in Maryland – has made a successful business from licensing its own technology, Unreal Engine.

But, despite deep-rooted competitiveness between the two that intensified in the Quake/Unreal Tournament era, Hollenshead suggested there was no direct competition in the engine business.

“I think that [Epic] made a strategic choice to focus on the middleware service stuff, and we never pretended to be focused on technology licensing,” he said.

"Epic’s made a good business out of that so kudos to them, but I wouldn’t change the way we’ve done things.”