Capcom plans to turn its in-house RE Engine into what it calls an “AI-generation game engine”. Programmer Satoshi Ishida outlined the Capcom RE Engine roadmap during the company’s Capcom Open Conference RE: 2026 tech event, held on October 2.
The announcement comes during a strong year for the publisher. Capcom has released Resident Evil Requiem, Pragmata and Onimusha: Way of the Sword in 2026, and all three sold well and drew positive reviews. RE Engine powers each of them, along with the rest of the company’s modern catalogue.
What project REX adds to Capcom RE Engine
Ishida said the effort is called REX. It covers six programs that bring AI and machine learning into the engine. According to Japanese outlet Gamebiz, whose report was picked up by IGN, the plan is about building an engine for the AI era. It does not describe a tool that generates game content on demand.
Several of the programs target performance inside the development pipeline. RE:Dox is a data handling program that translates different types of data into a common set of rules, so the engine can process them faster. RE:UI, meanwhile, applies AI-assisted optimisation to the engine’s own development tools.
Other programs aim to speed up game creation directly. RE:Runtime lets the engine animate large numbers of objects and characters as groups, instead of running each real-time animation on its own. RE:Flows is meant to simplify how developers implement game mechanic ideas and then convert those ideas into a standardised programming language.
The conference reports do not name the remaining two REX programs.
Why Capcom says it needs the change
Capcom gave three reasons for the project, according to Gamebiz. First, modern games are so large and technically complex that managing their data is difficult, and making changes to that data takes a long time.
Second, more than 2,000 people now use the Capcom RE Engine, and they come from many countries. As a result, Capcom wants a system that every user can understand regardless of background. Third, the company says AI technology is moving quickly and is now essential for streamlining development.
How the plan fits Capcom’s AI policy
The REX tools match the position Capcom stated earlier on generative AI. The publisher said it “will not implement assets generated by AI into our game content”. However, it added that it would use AI to “enhance efficiency and boost productivity” across its development pipeline.
None of the six programs, based on what Capcom has shown so far, is built to create art, environments or character models. Still, PC Gamer noted that some of them would likely depend on AI-generated or AI-assisted code to work.
Capcom has not given a timeline for when the Capcom RE Engine changes will reach its studios. The company also has not said whether REX will affect games already in production. Ishida described the move to an AI-ready engine as gradual, with the six programs rolling into the toolset over time.
Other studios have taken similar positions. CD Projekt Red said earlier that it does not plan to rely on AI to make complete games and will continue to use mostly human staff on The Witcher 4. Separate surveys of developers have found Japanese studios adopting AI tools faster than their North American counterparts, which places the Capcom RE Engine plan in line with its domestic peers.