Epic acquires Cubic Motion Unreal Engine maker picks up the company behind facial animation tech in God of War and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Brendan Sinclair North American Editor Thursday 12th March 2020 Share this article Share

Companies in this article Cubic Motion Epic Games

Epic Games today announced that it has acquired Cubic Motion.

Cubic Motion created facial animation technology used in titles like 2018's God of War and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

"Facial animation that conveys the slightest nuance of human expression is essential to crossing the uncanny valley. We believe that holistically combining Epic's Unreal Engine with 3Lateral's facial rig creation and Cubic Motion's solving technology is the only way to answer this challenge, and ultimately, to reach the pinnacle of digital human artistry with Unreal Engine," Epic Games CTO Kim Libreri said.

All of Cubic Motion's employees are said to be staying on with Epic, and the company will continue to work with its existing customers and partners.

Cubic Motion is at least the seventh acquisition Epic has made since the beginning of 2019. In that span, the Unreal Engine maker has also brought on board 3Lateral, Agog Labs, Psyonix, Twinmotion, Houseparty, and Quixel.

Epic isn't the only engine company picking up complementary companies at a steady pace. Unity Technologies has also acquired seven companies in the same span, most recently with the addition of Artomatix to its ranks earlier this week.