The future of the Halo saga involves bringing the saga to the Unreal Engine 5, which has been the main ingredient when rebuilding Silent Hill 2 and Until Dawn or bringing back the Dragon Ball battles. The funny thing is that we are talking about very, very recent releases. And yet, Tim Sweeney already visualizes and is clear about the kind of leap that will be Unreal Engine 6.
As reported from The Vergethrough his own statements and in the context of the Unreal Fest in Seattle, the CEO of Epic Games assures that the company is preparing for the future and has begun to develop long-term initiatives and bets with a view to a decade ahead. And that, logically, includes starting to lay the foundations for what will be its next graphics engine starting today. What can we expect from him?
The next Unreal Engine will be much more than an engine: the Epic Games revolution
Let’s start from the most obvious: Sweeney’s vision is to develop a new version of Unreal Engine that represents a leap in quality. A technological evolution. However, the great revolution is to make it much easier to use for all users, like Unreal Editor, and at the same time the assets created are interoperable. That is, it is possible to create an application or content once and then it can be implemented as a stand-alone game or experience for any platform.
An enormous claim, taking into account that the idea is standardize the use of the Unreal Engine. However, it is also a solution for studios large and small: Microsoft had to invest a lot of resources and enormous amounts of staff and time in shaping the Halo Infinite engine. Now, in the new era of Halo Studios, it will rely on the Epic engine to focus on the creation of the games.
What does this mean? Epic’s ten-year plan not only aims to offer the evolution of its current and cutting-edge engine, but also to promote and facilitate the generation of cross-platform content for different projects and games through it.
“The real power will come when we bring these two worlds together so we can combine all the power of our high-end game engine with the ease of use we bring together in [Unreal Editor para Fortnite ]. That will take several years. And when that process is complete, it will be Unreal Engine 6.”
For example: when developing this, content could be generated from Fortnite or the metaverse that they are creating together with Disney and, from there, make it a complete game that can be brought to any system or device. Or a film project.
“We announced that we are working with Disney to build a Disney ecosystem that is its own, but that will fully interoperate with the ecosystem de Fortnite.”
“And what we’re talking about with Unreal Engine 6 is the technological foundation that will make that possible for everyone. World-class game developers, independent game developers and creators de Fortnite to achieve those same kinds of things.”
Given that Epic’s great intention is to enable the interoperability of content, the other cornerstone of this plan is to boost fabthe new Epic Games open market and substitute for the Unreal Engine Marketplace. Its launch is imminent and its claims are enormous.
Fab, the other key piece of Epic Games’ great plan
What Epic Games is looking for is to ensure that the content and assets hosted on Fab can be compatible not only with its own games and those that use its technology, but also with mastodons such as Minecraft o Roblox.
The objective here is not only to position itself as a reference within the asset markets for video games, movies and any type of work that uses Unreal Engine but also to enable what we buy or create in a game to work beyond, enabling a kind of economy. interoperable very similar to what was seen in the novel and the movie Ready Player One.
Something that, we will not deny, has a special value in times when games as a service compete to attract the largest number of loyal players: paying for content in a game that you don’t know if you are going to pick up again in a week -even if it is free- has become a huge risk, and what Epic is proposing is a solution.
“The general thesis here is that gamers are leaning toward games they can play with all their friends, and gamers are spending more on digital items in games they trust they’ll play for a long time.”
“If you’re just trying out a game, why would you spend money buying an item you’ll never use again? “If we have an interoperable economy, that will increase players’ confidence that their current spending on purchasing digital goods will translate into things they will own for a long period of time, and will work everywhere they go.” .
In this way, and on paper, the plan drawn up to consolidate the Unreal Engine 6 would involve offering not only a tool and a set of resources, but also the ability to ensure that what is developed with it or through it evolves towards becoming a project with a life of its own or content that can interoperate with other existing content or games. An ambitious plan and yet Epic still has a battle pending.
The vision of Epic Games in the face of another reality: its presence on mobile phones
Epic Games’ huge expansion plans have a big ceiling. At least, for now. Apple and Google closed the doors to the company on mobile phones, tablets and their own systems on iOS and Android after failing to comply with their terms and applying as an alternative store on their terminals. Today the panorama is different.
Little by little, justice is leaning towards Epic and it is now possible to install the Epic Games Store on iPhone and iPad on the old continent on iPhone and iPad following the resolutions issued by the European commissions, as well as on Android worldwide, but that does not take away two realities: the most lucrative video game market (in terms of the number of users) is mobile phones and if you want to deploy your great plan, your foray into these You must speed up the procedures no matter what.
It is clear that Epic’s vision will benefit many developers with the willingness to expand to all possible platforms in a dynamic way. However, it has Apple and Google against it and that may limit both the landing of Fab and the project around Unreal Engine 6.
However, and this is essential, Tim Sweeney’s plans are long term and understands that time, the evolution of the entertainment industry and new needs will end up proving Epic right.
“It will be a long battle, and will likely result in a long series of battles, each advancing a set of freedoms, rather than having a single moment of global victory.”
We do not know if in ten years our obsession will be one of the many planned or promised metaverses or we will have a remake of The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time that we will play in the traditional way, but one thing is clear: Epic Games’ great plan contemplates both scenarios and many more, and his way of making Unreal Engine 6 a revolution and not an evolution will be decisive.
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