| Fox Engine | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Konami |
| Initial release | September 2013; 12 years ago (2013-09) |
| Platform | |
| License | Proprietary |
TheFox Engine is a discontinuedproprietarygame engine byKonami.[1] The engine's development began withHideo Kojima after the completion of 2008'sMetal Gear Solid 4, with the goal of making the "best engine in the world."[2] The first commercially released title to use the Fox Engine wasPro Evolution Soccer 2014.
The engine was designed to make it possible for Kojima Productions to develop multiplatform games with a significantly shortened development time[2] and has been described as the first step for the developer to move away from development for a single platform. The engine is named afterFOX, a fictional military unit from theMetal Gear series, wherein is also a reflection of Kojima Productions itself, which based its company logo on FOX's fox emblem.
After seven years of use on thePro Evolution Soccer series, Konami discontinued use of the Fox Engine in favor ofUnreal Engine due to PES Productions focusing development efforts on thePlayStation 5 andXbox Series X consoles.[3][4]
A demo of the engine was shown at Konami's conference at E3 2011. Taking place in a jungle environment, the demo showed off the engine's visual capabilities and featured a young man running around the area, as well as a horse and a dog.[5] The tech-demo was not showcasing a game to be released; instead, it showed a test area for the development of the engine, based on assets created forMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.[1] Kojima Productions planned to use the engine for all future titles, most prominently inMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which was revealed byHideo Kojima, the series creator at a special 25th anniversary of the series event in Tokyo.[6]
On August 17, 2011, Kojima released a series of images on Twitter. The images were of facial tests created in the Fox Engine.[7] In addition, during a lecture at the University of Southern California held by Hideo Kojima, an image was shown to various students in a demonstration of the Fox Engine's capabilities with a scene depicting a forest environment. Later, on December 16, Kojima released more images over Twitter, including one image showcasing cloth transparency.[8]
On March 2, 2012, the Development Without Borders website uploaded a "classified" CD labeled "Fox Engine Lighting Sample" that contained two pictures of the Kojima Productions staff room, and asked which picture was real, and which was a simulation created using the Fox Engine. Clicking on the images would reveal which image was which, and explained more about how the engine simulated the staff room. The second slide also depicted some hoops and levitating balls of varying colors and materials on the table, as well as a picture of a horse in the staff room.
At the "Zone of the Enders HD ReBOOT Preview" event on May 25, 2012, Kojima confirmed that work on the next installment in theZone of the Enders series had begun under the codenameEnders Project. The game was to be developed using the Fox Engine,[9] however, the project has since been put on indefinite hold due to the underwhelming sales ofZone of the Enders: HD Collection.[10][11]
On June 8, 2012, in an interview with CVG, Kojima confirmed that the Fox Engine was running on "[PlayStation 3], [Xbox 360] and current PCs".[12]
On March 14, 2013, Joakim Mogren, the head of Moby Dick Studio, appeared onGameTrailers TV to show off some screenshots of their recently announced game,The Phantom Pain, on aniPad. Some of the screenshots contained the Fox Engine logo on the bottom right corner, withGeoff Keighley pointing this out to Mogren and asking why they were present. Mogren appeared nervous after being asked, and the interview abruptly ended. Several gaming websites believed that the interview had been staged.[13]
On March 27, 2013,The Phantom Pain was revealed to beMetal Gear Solid V, and Moby Dick Studio, as well as its head Joakim Mogren, were revealed to be fictional. Kojima explained thatThe Phantom Pain was presented as a project unrelated to theMetal Gear franchise in order to better observe the public response to the Fox Engine's capabilities.[14]
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