The once-heralded and successful Fox Engine is no more. The Hideo Kojima-created engine once competed with real life in terms of graphical fidelity, but Konami is canning it.
Perhaps the writing was on the wall as soon as Hideo Kojima unceremoniously left Konami that Fox Engine had little life left. Kojima is the mastermind behind the Metal Gear series, as well as Death Stranding. While still working with Konami, Kojima and his team spent years creating the impressive Fox Engine.
Fox Engine will go down as one of the more disappointing game engines. In the end, there simply aren't many great games that took advantage of it. One game will always stand out as the flagship title for Fox Engine, and that is Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.
The Phantom Pain will go down as one of the best games of its generation, and for good reason. The endless gameplay opportunities, gorgeous visuals, and creative design set Metal Gear Solid 5 apart, and much of that is thanks to the Fox Engine. It is truly disappointing to know that the same engine that helped create arguably one of the best games of all time is now being thrown away.
Along with Kojima's departure in 2015, one of Fox Engine's top devs left around the same time. Many will argue that the internal issues at Konami are the reason for much of the top talent now working elsewhere. One can only imagine what other creations could have come from Fox Engine if talented individuals were allowed the freedom to create amazing content inside of Konami, but alas, Konami seems to have other ideas.
Instead of focusing on some of the best franchises that the publisher has, like Gradius, Metal Gear, Castlevania, Contra, and Silent Hill, Konami has created slot machines and mobile titles. It's not at all a surprise that Fox Engine is now dead. For the rare titles that Konami is still putting out, it will be using Unreal Engine 5 moving forward. Fans can only hope that the more user-friendly engine will help the teams at Konami make classic games once again.
Source: Gearnuke