It appears that Unreal Engine 6’s focus on AI may have led him to leave the company after 27 years.
Epic Games has released more information about Unreal Engine 6, as Unreal Engine 5.8 is expected to be the final major update for the current-generation engine. Because of integration with UEFN, Claude, and Gemini, as well as the eventual phasing out of the Blueprints visual-scripting system and the Actors framework, many fear AI will completely take over game development. Epic’s assurances that this will not happen have not been enough to ease those fears, especially because the company lost veteran and legendary level-design guru Sjoerd Hourences de Jong at exactly the point when it announced the new version of the engine.
De Jong remained at Epic throughout the development of Unreal Engine 4 and Unreal Engine 5. The legendary level-design expert personally created one of Unreal Tournament 2004’s iconic maps, DM-Rankin, and helped drive major changes in game development. He visited hundreds of studios, delivered hundreds of presentations, and supported millions of developers.
While no concrete details have been given, it is difficult not to connect Sjoerd de Jong’s departure from Epic Games to the announcement of Unreal Engine 6 and its close integration with Claude and Gemini. Since Unreal Engine 5.8 already uses AI for world generation, it is undeniable that this could move to another level with Unreal Engine 6, potentially changing game development in a way unlike any previous version of the engine. For someone who has championed handcrafted level design, the direction of Unreal Engine 6 may well seem opposed to everything he has represented so far. The legendary level designer nevertheless remains positive 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 week at Epic. It has been an incredible journey that truly changed my life in many ways. I did not have an easy childhood or youth, and things were not progressing, but all of that changed completely when I discovered Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine 1, 2, and 3 put me on a very interesting life path, which in turn had a profound impact on me as a person, on my personal growth, and on the opportunities that opened up. But despite all this, I feel this era has come to a close and that it is time to move forward. The industry is in a very interesting place. Game development has always been an industry where change is relentless and unavoidable, but I feel we have reached a turning point where powerful changes are taking place due to a mix of many factors. As much as I love the old ways of working, I think it is strategically sensible to face where we are headed and work out how we can adapt, as well as how we can best handle the challenges and opportunities ahead of us” – De Jong wrote on LinkedIn.
At present, there is no risk of AI taking over game development and creating games that can match the quality of titles made by real developers. It is difficult to predict what the future holds for the many games that will surely be built on Unreal Engine 6. Hopefully, real game developers will remain in control and steer the industry toward a genuine next generation not dictated by a model without creativity.
