Skip to main content

Epic Games acquires studio behind facial animations in God of War, Spider-Man

Epic Games, the studio behind the massively popular Fortnite and the widely-used Unreal Engine, has acquired Cubic Motion, which specializes in facial animation technology.

Cubic Motion has created tools that allow video game developers and filmmakers to capture more realistic facial animations using a complex camera rig and software platform. The startup has also developed the Persona system, which translates a person’s performance onto a digital counterpart in real time, and allows for immediate facial animation of characters in Unreal Engine.

Video games that have used Cubic Motions’ facial animation technology include Sony Interactive Entertainment’s God of War and Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man, both PlayStation 4 exclusives. Meanwhile, titles powered by Unreal Engine, in addition to Fortnite, include The Outer Worlds, Gears 5, and the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake.

With Epic Games, Cubic Motion will work with 3Lateral, which joined the Unreal Engine team in January 2019. Cubic Motion and 3Lateral have previously worked together on facial animation technology.

“Digital humans are not only the next frontier of content creation but also the most complex endeavor in computer graphics. With Cubic Motion bringing their computer vision and animation technology and expertise to our digital human efforts, Epic along with our team at 3Lateral are one step closer to democratizing these capabilities for creators everywhere,” said Epic Games CEO and founder Tim Sweeney in a statement.

All employees of Cubic Motion will move to Epic Games with the acquisition, which is its seventh since the start of 2019, according to GamesIndustry. Unity Technologies, the company Unreal Engine’s competitor, has also purchased seven companies over that period, so it appears that the rivals are trying to keep in step with each other.

Cubic Motion’s capabilities

To showcase its facial animation technology in a pitch to a major game studio in Los Angeles, the company created an animated cutscene using one of the studio’s trademark characters. The character, after delivering pre-written lines, surprised executives by breaking the fourth wall and addressing them. It turns out that the cutscene was not pre-rendered, but rather a live performance that was being transformed real-time into the character.

“I’ve never seen a reaction like that,” former Cubic Motion President Andy Wood told Digital Trends. “There was an audible gasp from everyone in the room. Someone grabbed my arm because they just couldn’t believe what was happening.”

Editors' Recommendations

Aaron Mamiit
Aaron received a NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was 4 years old, and he has been fascinated with…
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has instant open-world character switching
Peter and Miles perched next to each other in Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

Insomniac Games has finally confirmed whether or not players will be able to switch between the two playable versions of Spider-Man while exploring the open world of Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

Ever since it was confirmed that Peter Parker and Miles Morales would both be playable in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, the question of whether or not players would be able to switch between them at any time in the open world arose. Although Marvel's Spider-Man 2's gameplay debut at the PlayStation Showcase didn't confirm whether or not that was the case, Creative Director Bryan Intihar revealed the answer in an interview with Eurogamer: yes, you can. 
"We have content designed around Peter, we have content designed around Miles, and we have content where you can play either. You'll be able to -- in the open world -- freely switch between them with a simple button press," Intihar confirmed. Insomniac Games also confirmed to Eurogamer that Peter and Miles will each have their own skill tree, although they will also share a third. For the most part, it looks like players will have a lot of freedom about how and with whom they want to tackle any sort of open-world objectives or sidequests.
Things will get a little more restrictive during more linear story missions, like the one we saw during the PlayStation Showcase, though. "When you're playing the main story, we control when you switch between Pete and Miles ... it's done in service to the story when we're making those switches, for sure," Intihar told Eurogamer. "So, as you saw on that gameplay reveal, which is a segment of the main story, we are predetermining those based on what we want to do for how the story plays out."
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 will be released exclusively for PlayStation 5 sometime this fall.

Read more
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 gets wild gameplay trailer, but no release date
Kraven the Hunter appears in Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

Insomniac Games showed off a new gameplay trailer for Marvel's Spider-Man 2 during Sony's May 2023 PlayStation Showcase. The action-packed clip showed off its villain, the iconic Kraven the Hunter, but it didn't give the game a release date. It's still only scheduled for fall 2023.

The new trailer gave us our closest glimpse at Sony's upcoming release we've seen yet. It begins with a very cinematic clip showing off classic Spider-Man villain Kraven the Hunter. From there, we flash-forward a bit to New York City, where we see Peter Parker and Miles Morales working together to save the city. Parker has a fancy new black suit with a lot of wild powers. In the trailer, we see multiple black spider arms coming out of it and slamming enemies.

Read more
You need to read this free Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 prequel comic
Miles Morales and Peter Parker stand together in Spider-Man 2.

While Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is supposed to come out sometime this fall, we don't actually have that much information on the video game's narrative or any other differences from its predecessors. That's why those looking forward to the game should check out the Marvel's Spider-Man 2 prequel comic, which was previously released physically, but is now available for free on Marvel's website.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (2023) No. 1, which was written by Christos Gage and illustrated by Ig Guara, was released physically on May 6 for Free Comic Book Day. Now, just a few days later, Insomniac Games and Marvel have followed up on their promise to make the book available digitally for free, so you can easily read it on Marvel.com.
It's a breezy read that doesn't contain many shocking revelations, but gives more context on what Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and Mary Jane Watson have been up to since the events of Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. In terms of new villains introduced here that could show up in the game, the Spider-Men fight The Tarantula, an arachnid-themed assassin, and The Hood, a gang leader who's trying to use magic for personal gain.
On the more character-focused side of things, we learn that Peter, Miles, and MJ are now all working together as a tight crime-fighting unit. Peter is now trying to get a teaching certificate and to convince MJ to move in with him. As Peter now lives in Aunt May and Uncle Ben's old house in Queens, that could mean we'll get to explore more boroughs of New York City in Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Meanwhile, Miles decides to pursue a Music Technology major at Empire State University, and J. Jonah Jameson decides to buy back ownership of the Daily Bugle. 
There's little more than a passing mention of Norman Osborn, and we don't see Harry Osborn, Kraven, or Venom in action, so there aren't any must-know reveals from this free comic. Still, it's worth a read if you want to get reacquainted with this Marvel universe, the headspace of the heroes within it, and the gadgets they use ahead of Marvel's Spider-Man 2's launch. 
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 will release exclusively for PlayStation 5 sometime this fall.

Read more