Free games, free upgrades – what more do you want in life?
Epic Games has already hit a chime with its free live-service titles in Fortniteand Rocket League, which both continue to set new player-count peaks years after their releases.
Time and time again, these titles are hit with huge content drops, especially the famed battle royale, which continues to enjoy its biggest collaboration season of all time, flush with gaming legends from all corners of the industry – and already we’re gearing up for even more with spooky season on the horizon.
But Epic Games is gearing up for its biggest change yet to both of its titles, which will play guinea pigs for the newest game engine that could revolutionise game development.
Unreal Engine 6 confirmed for 2027 release – first games confirmed
Announced earlier this year at the Rocket League Esports Major in Paris, the car-football title is set to be the first recipient of an Unreal Engine 6 overhaul, which is a major jump for Epic Games, which currently hosts the game on the third engine iteration.
The overhauled engine was originally revealed to be joined by a new ‘Epic launcher’ which would combine Fortnite, Rocket League, and a Disney hub into one PC app.
Now, the publisher has claimed that it will be ready next year, which comes as a huge boost for fans who originally thought that it wouldn’t arrive until 2028.
In a new blog post detailing cross-platform voice chatting and new universal social features for Epic titles, they revealed that all developers will have access to the tools in 2027.
“These features are coming to Rocket League next year with its move to Unreal Engine 6. And we’re working to bring these social features to all developers, supporting all platforms, all stores, and all engines, in 2027,” the article read.
Fortnitecurrently operates on Unreal Engine 5, which has proved to be a huge success as players can even craft their own RPGs in the Unreal Editor (UEFN) – previously known as the simplistic Creative mode.
The UEFN model has already unearthed huge community-made RPGs such as Aetheria, which looks like an AAA project like Sekiro, built with custom combat and traversing mechanics and appears completely different from ‘a Fortnite game’ as we know them – Unreal Engine 6 will take that premise deeper than we could imagine.
Fortnite often serves as the testing ground for new engines, being the first UE5 title too, having upgraded through each instalment since it was launched on UE3.
For Rocket League specifically, this overhaul will offer a range of new features, such as map creation and training mechanic packs, a long-requested update for the ‘soccar’ title,
Featured Image Credit: Epic Games
