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HTML5 has come far because it was getting used to render simplistic 2D scenes in a browser. Just last year, Mozilla ported Unreal Engine 3 to Firefox for complex in-browser 3D scenes. Now they’re taking it one step further.

Mozilla and Epic Games announced today that the 2 are bringing Unreal Engine 4 to the net through Firefox. Very similar to Unreal Engine 3, UE4 will run via JavaScript using Mozilla’s asm.js subset. They claim that asm.js has increased the performance of Web applications to 67 percent of native and that it’ll get even better. The porting of Unreal Engine 4 is a testament to the facility of the net.

“This technology has reached some extent where games users can jump into via an internet link at the moment are almost indistinguishable from ones they may have needed to wait to download and install,” said Brendan Eich, CTO and SVP of Engineering at Mozilla. “Using Emscripten to cross-compile C and C++ into asm.js, developers can run their games at near-native speeds, on the way to approach the net as they’d the other platform.”

Here’s a video showing Unreal Engine 4 running natively on Firefox without using plugins:

Mozilla and Epic both feel that the internet is a higher great platform for games. Developers haven’t exactly flocked to it just yet, but it’s certainly impressive that HTML5 can handle a posh engine like Unreal Engine 4.

“We were blown away by what this Mozilla-pioneered technology achieved with Unreal Engine 3 on the net, so we had no hesitation in working with Mozilla to port Unreal Engine 4,” said Tim Sweeney, Founder and CEO, Epic Games. “We believe the net has an important part to play at some point of game development and deployment, and Mozilla has proven it’s the catalyst to make this happen.”

If you have to learn more about Mozilla’s efforts to bring Unreal Engine 4 to the net, you’ll like to look into their booth at GDC.

Image via firefoxchannel/YouTube

Mozilla Brings Unreal Engine 4 To Firefox 21 hours ago