After 27 years, he seemingly left the company due to Unreal Engine 6’s focus on AI.

Epic Games has released additional details about Unreal Engine 6, as Unreal Engine 5.8 is expected to be the last major update for the current-generation engine. Due to the integration of UEFN, Claude, and Gemini, as well as the eventual phasing out of the Blueprints visual scripting system and the Actors framework, many fear that AI will take over game development completely. Epic’s assurances that this will not happen are not enough to allay these fears. After all, the company lost its legendary level design guru, Sjoerd “Hourences” de Jong, right when it announced the new version of the engine.

De Jong remained with Epic throughout the development of Unreal Engine 4 and 5. He single-handedly created one of Unreal Tournament 2004’s iconic maps, DM-Rankin, and helped drive changes in game development. He visited hundreds of studios, gave hundreds of presentations, and supported millions of developers.

While no specific details have been mentioned, it’s impossible not to link de Jong’s departure to the announcement of Unreal Engine 6 and its tight integration with Claude and Gemini. Since Unreal Engine 5.8 already uses AI for world generation, it’s clear that Unreal Engine 6 will take this to a new level, potentially transforming game development in a way unlike any previous version of the engine. To a champion of hand-crafted level design like de Jong, Unreal Engine 6’s direction certainly seems to run counter to everything he has stood for thus far. Yet the legendary level designer remains optimistic about the future.

“After 27 years with Unreal Engine and 12 years at Epic Games, I have decided to move on. Last week was my last at Epic. It’s been an incredible journey that has truly changed my life in so many ways. I didn’t have an easy childhood or youth, and things weren’t looking good, but all of that changed when I discovered Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine 1, 2, and 3 put me on an interesting life trajectory, which profoundly impacted me as a person, my personal growth, and the opportunities that opened up. That being said, I feel like this era has come to a close, and it is time to move forward. The industry is in a very interesting place. The gaming industry has always been one where change is relentless and inevitable. However, it feels like we are reaching a pivotal point, a potent mix of things. As much as I love the old way of working, I think it would be strategic to come to terms with where this is heading and work out how to adapt and excel at solving the challenges and opportunities we face” De Jong wrote on LinkedIn.

Currently, there is no risk of AI taking over game development and creating games that rival those made by real developers in terms of quality. It’s hard to predict what the future holds for the many games that will undoubtedly be built on Unreal Engine 6. Hopefully, real game developers will continue to be in control, steering the gaming industry toward a true next generation that isn’t dictated by a creativity-deficient model.

Source: WCCFTech, LinkedIn