Capcom will build RE Engine as an AI-developed game engine

Capcom, best known for its Resident Evil and Street Fighter franchises, has announced plans to modernize its own game engine, the RE Engine. As part of the REX project, the company intends to gradually improve its tools to speed up game development and expand the use of artificial intelligence, including automated testing and error detection.

Image source: Capcom

At Capcom’s open conference RE: 2026, programmer Satoshi Ishida talked about the REX project and why it was created. He identified three main issues. First, modern games have grown so large that loading assets, using the editor, and assembling scripts takes more and more time. Second, RE Engine has over 2,000 active users, so the tools should be convenient and easy to understand for developers of varying experience levels. Third, preparations need to be made for the increased use of AI agents in game testing and quality control.

Rather than creating a new engine from scratch, Capcom decided to gradually introduce new technologies into the RE Engine. The REX project covers data processing, development tool interfaces, work log collection and analysis, game logic creation and program code execution. The upgrade should reduce wait times in day-to-day operations and make working on larger projects easier.

One direction is to unify the software foundations of these tools and make them easier for developers and artificial intelligence to use. In the future, this will allow AI assistants to analyze and create code, as well as independently inspect game scenarios and check for errors.

Several components of REX have been released as open source, including the structured data processing system RE:Adriamycin and tools for processing RE logs:log . According to Ishida, Capcom expects open source will also help train artificial intelligence to use these technologies.

Using AI in development does not mean transitioning to the generation of game assets. Capcom has previously stated that it does not plan to incorporate assets created by generative AI into game content, but intends to use the technology to improve the efficiency and productivity of development. The company is exploring the possibility of using it in various areas including graphics, sound and programming.