Epic set for Tokyo meetings

In a move that will mark Epic Games’ first serious bid to establish a business in Japan, the company is set to hold a closed-doors meeting with a number of the nation’s development studios.

Epic Games will hold the meeting at its newly-established Tokyo office, and the firm is out in force to flaunt the benefits of licensing Unreal Engine 3.

Epic Games’ technical director Tim Sweeney will be flying over to deliver opening remarks, bringing with him a pre-recorded address from Epic design director Cliff Bleszinski.

According to a Famitsu report, Grasshopper Manufacture CEO Goichi Suda will also be in attendance, speaking as a new Unreal Engine customer.

Only a handful of developers situated in Japan have licensed the Unreal Engine technology – a clear difference from the engine’s surging popularity within Europe and North America.

In September last year the firm revealed it would be opening an office in Japan, ramping up its sales and support operations in the region.

“Epic Games has an expectation of much closer relationships with Japanese studios," said the firm’s president Mike Capps, speaking at a Tokyo Game Show press conference.

“We may have secret plans to hire some Japanese game developers too," he added.