The REX Project, a new-generation RE Engine, will be infused with AI technology to streamline development.
Japanese video game company Capcom is planning to transform its RE Engine, the game development engine used for Resident Evil and many of its other titles, into an “AI-generation game engine”. The news was reported by Japanese outlet GameBiz and translated into English using Google's engine.
The development of the next-generation RE Engine, dubbed the REX Project, was revealed during Capcom’s recent technology conference, Capcom Open Conference RE: 2026. In a segment presented by programmer Satoshi Ishida, he broke down the REX Project, outlining the issues that led to the decision and what the REX Project will ultimately become.
Why Capcom is infusing AI into the RE Engine
The RE Engine was described as “the heart of Capcom”. First used in Resident Evil 7 in 2017, the technology has since become Capcom’s primary development engine, powering 27 of the company’s titles. However, as games continue to grow in scale, the engine has begun to show its limitations.
Among the issues highlighted was the increasing scale of games, which makes even minor adjustments more time-consuming, as well as Capcom’s growing workforce, which has surpassed 2,000 developers and created a need for a more streamlined system. The rise of AI technology was also highlighted as an essential factor in improving development efficiency in the future.
Rather than creating a new engine from scratch, Capcom is instead evolving the RE Engine by gradually adding new technologies and integrating AI capabilities. This process will eventually transform it into the next-generation engine known as REX.
The presentation further explained that these technological advancements will contribute to the larger evolution of the engine into an 'AI-generation game engine'. “Our goal is a future where we ‘create games together with AI’," Capcom stated, according to GameBiz.
How Capcom is using AI in its RE Engine
The REX Engine is intended to become an engine designed for both human use and machine understanding. It is being developed “using the rules of the world’s most common programming language” to create a unified base language.
“AI will be able to understand and automatically create programmes, and even perform test plays to automatically check for bugs,” Capcom revealed. The REX Engine will also make some of its technology open source to allow for AI training.
Capcom has previously stated its stance against using generative AI to create content for its games, but has been proactively exploring AI technology to improve development efficiency and productivity.
It remains to be seen how the REX Engine will affect future Capcom games. Its predecessor, the RE Engine, has been central to many of the company’s biggest titles, including this year's PRAGMATA and Resident Evil Requiem.
