RenderWare
More info
- Creator
- Criterion Software
- Released
- Owner
- Electronic Arts
- Type
- Game engine / middleware
British middleware that powered half the PlayStation 2's catalogue — until EA bought it and quietly retired the licence.
Criterion Software built RenderWare as a 3D toolkit back in 1993. It came into its own on the PlayStation 2, where Sony shipped powerful hardware but almost no high-level API — RenderWare filled the gap and ended up in hundreds of titles, from the GTA III trilogy to Burnout and Sonic Heroes.
Electronic Arts bought Criterion in 2004, kept the Burnout studio, and around 2007 pulled RenderWare as a licensable product — few vendors want to arm their rivals. Rockstar, which had built its PS2 hits on the engine, answered by writing its own: RAGE.