[Roy Awesome]

Keep in mind, Engines aren't created, they evolve. UE3 still has code from UE2. Source still has code from HL1 (even back to Quake 3). Even the engine that powers Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 has code from WC3 (and probably even starcraft). Code never goes bad, you just figure out better ways of implementing things and have to update them for the times.


Now, lets take a look at Forgelight. SOE has been making MMOs since the 90s. They know how to do network tech and they know how to do character interactions. They probably took the back end networking and entity state management stuff (things invisible to players) from previous games like FreeRealms and EQ2 and slapped a fancy graphics engine on top and incorporated PhysX. While this is a ton of work (and it totally is paying off, Forgelight looks fantastic), They did not start from scratch...giving the appearance of coming out of nowhere.