Capcom brings AI to engine powering Resident Evil and Street Fighter
Capcom announced on October 2 that it will transform its proprietary RE Engine into an AI-assisted development tool, launching a new initiative dubbed the REX project to streamline video game production.
Unveiled during the company’s Open Conference, the engine upgrade aims to integrate artificial intelligence to improve development efficiency, overall performance and quality assurance. According to reports from Japanese outlet GameBiz, Capcom executives stated the ultimate goal is to build a future where developers create games alongside AI.
The Japanese studio highlighted that modern video games have become so massive that routine coding and structural processes are now extremely time-consuming. Because development teams continue to expand to meet these technical demands, Capcom requires an engine that remains highly accessible to new staff members without requiring them to relearn complex legacy systems.
No generative AI assets
Despite the aggressive pivot toward AI integration, Capcom reiterated its strict stance on generative content. The developer previously confirmed during a March shareholder meeting that it will not implement AI-generated assets directly into its commercial retail releases.
Instead, the REX project will deploy machine learning technology exclusively to optimise background workflows across programming, graphics and sound design. To facilitate this fundamental shift, Capcom will unify the engine under a common programming language.
This standardisation makes the underlying software architecture significantly more legible for both human programmers and automated AI training models. The company is also making select internal improvements open-source to further aid AI training initiatives.
The proprietary RE Engine first debuted in 2017 to power Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Since then, it has become the foundational architecture for the publisher’s most successful modern franchises, extending beyond survival horror to support titles like Street Fighter 6 and Devil May Cry 5.
Rather than building an entirely new development platform from scratch to accommodate modern computing hardware, Capcom intends to roll out the REX artificial intelligence upgrades incrementally to ensure a seamless transition for its existing internal development teams.
