Summary

Scripting languages allow games to have a more data-driven workflow. Even though many games start with a simple and basic scripting language used for a specific task, their scope is significantly broadened during the development of the game or across projects. After spending a significant amount of time and money to create and maintain a custom language, the language can end up being poorly designed or implemented. Instead of creating a custom language, it is better to take advantage of existing languages that have had many years to mature and are maintained and used by many other developers. If you need a scripting language, Java is one of your options.

An implementation of the VM does not exist for different game consoles, so using Java on a console means that you would have to implement a VM yourself. Alternatively, you can compile an open implementation of the VM for the target console. If your target platform is a PC, as it stands today, Java (language and virtual machine) can be used as a perfect scripting language. The strengths of Java can be advantageous for a game that requires a reasonable amount of reliable scripts.