Starbreeze signs Unreal Engine 3 deal

Starbreeze, maker of The Chronicles of Riddick and The Darkness - and the developer rumoured to be behind EA's unconfirmed Syndicate revival, has signed a long-term licensing deal to use Gears of War engine Unreal Engine 3.

Swedish developer Starbreeze has entered into a multi-year, studio-wide license agreement to develop projects using Epic Games' engine.

"We evaluated several game engines in the market and came to the conclusion that Unreal Engine 3 is the solution that best fits our needs," CEO Johan Kristiansson said.

"We were particularly impressed by the tool chain, which facilitates rapid iteration and high productivity for our team."

Starbreeze, which is home to around 120 employees, is "currently busy with a major production together with publisher Electronic Arts".

In April last year Starbreeze was spotted trademarking the name Syndicate three times.

EA's name popped-up in one of the filings, suggesting the codenamed "Project RedLime" collaboration was a re-imagining of Syndicate.

Then in August the case for a Syndicate reboot gathered momentum following the emergence of new trademark filings by EA.

EA signed Starbreeze in early 2008 to rework a major franchise for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Syndicate was a series of 90s isometric science fiction games created by Peter Molyneux's old studio Bullfrog Productions. They were proper good, and proper bloody.