With the announcement of MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries over the weekend, one of the major questions surrounding the new game was whether or not it would support virtual reality (VR). Now, we have some resemblance of an answer from two members of the development team.
A day after the announcement, a fan on Twitter asked Piranha Games president, Russ Bullock, if the game was bound to include support for VR. Bullock responded that the game is “designed to do so.” Further evidence was provided the following day in a blog post on the Unreal Engine website (MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries will use Unreal Engine 4 as its game engine). In it, lead programmer Brian Windover praised the merits of the engine, which included support for VR.
“Unreal Engine 4’s increasingly versatile Blueprint system enables our designers to quickly prototype their ideas and craft the foundations of an outstanding single-player campaign. Its core technology, intuitive AI framework, and native VR support enables our engineers to introduce truly next-gen features with great ease and reliability.”
The release of the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift this year brought many games to the VR spotlight. The inclusion of the MechWarrior franchise to VR not only could be a major attraction to fans of the series, but for VR enthusiasts as well. For years, a monitor was the window to which you could see the interior of a BattleMech unit. Adding VR to the mix would further immerse you into the experience similar to games such as Elite: Dangerous and EVE: Valkyrie. All that’s left now is an official confirmation from the studio.
| MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries | |
|---|---|
| Type | First-person, Sci-fi, Mech |
| Developer | Piranha Games |
| Publisher | Piranha Games |
| Platforms | PC |
| Where To Buy | N/A |
| Release Date | 2018 |
