Following its State of Unreal show at the Game Developers Conference earlier this year, where it announced that Fortnite players can create their own Lego games and that its hyperrealistic MetaHumans would be added to the Unreal Editor for Fortnite, Epic Games hosted another big event for 2024 with its Unreal Fest conference in Seattle.
At the show, Epic revealed off more of what it’s been cooking for Unreal Engine, Fortnite, the Epic Games Store, and more. The opening session for Unreal Fest Seattle took place on October 1st at 12PM ET / 9AM PT, and you can watch a replay of the show on YouTube.
Follow along with all of the news out of the event right here.
Epic and Disney want to make ‘what every Disney fan has ever wanted’
Image: Epic GamesIn February, Disney and Epic Games announced that they were collaborating on a “persistent universe” that would feature characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and more. Disney franchises have been featured in Fortnite for years, but this new universe promises to be something grander — and will be interoperable with Fortnite.
Disney and Epic didn’t share many details about how this would all work when it was announced. But after talking to Epic executives during Unreal Fest in Seattle this week, I’ve learned a bit more about what to expect.
Read Article >Epic knows its game store social features ‘suck,’ but it wants to fix that
Illustration: Alex Castro / The VergeEpic’s game store is finally on mobile. Next up, the company plans to add features that make people want to use it — on both mobile and PC.
A key thing Epic Games wants to introduce is what store boss Steve Allison calls a “social framework” — think the types of social and chat features you see on consoles or Steam.
Read Article >- The panel’s done.
I’ll be taking some meetings now and will hit the show floor later — hope to have more to share soon!
- “Removing the gatekeepers has to be the goal for everybody.”
Another quote from Tim Sweeney, responding to a question from the crowd about stablecoins. Sweeney is making the point that traditional game makers and crypto developers will benefit from Apple and Google having reduced ability to impose rules on app distribution.
- “America is a mess politically.”
...says Tim Sweeney, when asked about the US outlook for its legal fights against companies like Apple and Google. (The quote got a chuckle from folks in the room.)
AltStore’s Riley Testut is optimistic that alternative app stores will come to the US eventually, though — he thinks it’s only a matter of time.
- “We lose half of people that intend to install the store.”
Epic’s Steve Allison that the mobile platforms’ scare screens to install alternative app stores have a huge effect on their installs.
- “I think their names are Apple and Google.”
That’s Tim Sweeney’s answer, during a panel, to what is standing in the way of effective competition on mobile. He’s also rehashing Epic’s arguments against how the two companies operate, and mentioned the lawsuit against Google and Samsung the company just filed.
Photo by Jay Peters / The Verge - “We want to bring joy back to digital retailing.”
That’s Epic Games Store GM Steve Allison talking about the benefits of alternative app stores and how the App Store and Google Play are “fairly joyless,” he says.
- We’re wrapping up.
Thanks for following along!
- We’re getting a preview of Unreal Tournament in Secret Level.
I’ll admit I haven’t played much UT. But the clips that we’re seeing look extremely impressive.
- “Let’s do Love, Death and Robots with video games.”
That’s Blur Studio founder Tim Miller (Blur is behind Netflix’s Love, Death and Robots) talking about his upcoming series for Prime Video, Secret Level.
- Zelda movie director Wes Ball gave the tiniest teaser of the upcoming film:
“It’s going to be fantastic.” Well, I’m sold.
Ball discussed the movie while onstage with Epic Games CTO Kim Libreri to talk about how Unreal Engine can help with filmmaking.
- There are new Valorant experiences in the works.
Another tidbit from Anna Donlon on stage. She was coy about exactly what those might be, though.
- Valorant has more than 35 million players per month.
Riot’s Anna Donlon just shared the figure on stage.
- Riot’s Anna Donlon is here to talk about Valorant.
She’s discussing the process of bringing the hyper-competitive shooter to consoles and how using Unreal Engine made that easier.
- “It’s time to bring back a new era of interoperability.”
That’s from Ben Grossman — who, I should note, is here to hype Epic’s developer tools like Unreal Editor for Fortnite. Still, I kind of agree with him.
- Pizza power.
Epic is giving creators another brand they can build Fortnite experiences around: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Creators will be able to publish their TMNT-themed islands starting in November.
A screenshot of an example TMNT experience that looks to play like one of the classic TMNT arcade games. Image: Epic Games - Fortnite creators will eventually be able to make custom weapons and global leaderboards.
Seems like smart additions, especially for games with first-person camera modes. (You’ll be able to make custom weapons for third-person games, too.)
- Nearly half a billion.
Epic says it has paid out $479 million to creators since launching its revised creator payout system for creator-made islands in March 2023.
The company also says there have been more than 134,000 islands published with Unreal Editor for Fortnite, which also launched last March.
- Saxs Persson is on stage to talk Unreal Editor for Fortnite.
Epic just announced that creators can make experiences with first-person camera modes.
- On Unreal Engine improvements for mobile development...
Simon Tourangeau showed off how Unreal Engine can preview scenes across different mobile devices. Seems like a pretty handy tool for mobile devs.
- The MegaLights demo is running natively on a PlayStation 5!
It looks really good, especially knowing that it’s on a PS5. The feature will be part of Unreal Engine 5.5.
- Epic is demoing “MegaLights.”
An in-game scene is impressively lit using the new Unreal Engine feature. A character is walking through a scene with beautiful lights and shadows.
My iPhone photo might not quite capture it, but you can get an idea. There were audible gasps from the crowd as lights flickered on in a later scene.
- Unreal Engine 5.5 preview 1 is available today.
Epic’s Simon Tourangeau just made the announcement on stage.
