Fortnite is at a major turning point as it reaches into the next generation of home gaming consoles and transitions to the next edition of Unreal Engine. Epic Games' own Lead Console Programmer Ben Woodhouse spoke up this week about the future of one of the most popular games in the world.
Game engines are, as their name clearly points out, used for making and running games but their ability to display real-time interactive graphics also makes them useful for other things as well. Epic Games seems to have stumbled upon a new market for its Unreal Engine that goes beyond games. The company proudly announces that its game engine and development tools have been used to develop the user experience that will debut on General Motors' HUMMER EV later this month.
The drama between Apple and Epic Games has not yet subsided as the two await their day in court. Epic Games is still pushing for an injunction that will allow Fortnite to return to iOS, including the new direct payment option that started this whole situation. Apple, on the other hand, is also pushing to practically block Unreal Engine on iOS, this time by halting its development in the interest of keeping iOS devices secure and uncompromised.
The war between Apple and Epic escalated in a serious way last week, as Epic accused Apple of threatening to ban its Unreal Engine from Apple platforms. That was a surprising move in this ongoing feud between the two companies because banning Unreal Engine would have an adverse effect on more than just Epic - it would be a major setback for anyone developing games for Mac or iOS using the engine.
Today the Apple vs Epic Games war is ramping up a bit, with Epic claiming that Apple is about to ban Unreal Engine from all Apple platforms. Epic broke Apple's rules by placing in-app purchases in their game Fortnite, resulting in Apple removing the game Fortnite from their app store. Apple apparently also aims to remove all Epic Games software from their platforms, including development tools for Unreal Engine.
While Microsoft has been slowly but consistently revealing new information about the Xbox Series X, we've been waiting on something particularly juicy about the PlayStation 5. We may have received that juicy reveal today with Epic's announcement of Unreal Engine 5, which was put on display by way of a tech demo running on PlayStation 5.
Both the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 will have Fortnite at launch, Epic Games has confirmed, though it won't be until next year when the real fun starts with the hit game. The company announced the release news alongside the unveil of Unreal Engine 5, its latest platform for next-generation games.
Epic Games is disrupting the gaming market and, just like any disruption, not everyone's too happy about it. It's easy enough to see the appeal of Epic's battle cry: better profits for developers and more choices for users. But in order to effect any significant change, Epic Games is employing some business strategies to get developers on its side. Those same strategies, however, are causing gamers and even some developers to draw the line in the sand, splitting the gaming community into sometimes very vocal camps.
Fans can be quite an interesting bunch. Depending on rabidity, they can be a force for good or a pain in the posterior. Some fans, however, have enough skill and knowledge to take things where their original creators would probably never tread. Like Jason Lewis, whose applies his expertise as Obsidian's senior environment artist to redo parts of a classic Star Wars game in Epic's Unreal Engine, giving it not just beauty but the feeling of a modern game that will never be.
Now that Fortnite has dominated the world, Epic has started branching out to other endeavors. Recently, the company changed its revenue split rules for Unreal Marketplace sellers and just last week launched its own game store to take the fight to Steam. Now, the company has announced that it will soon be making the tools it used to take Fortnite cross-platform free for other developers to use.
Epic is making quite an epic name for itself, though not always in a good way. CEO Tim Sweeney’s tirade against Microsoft’s UWP platform and the more recent Fortnite on Android drama has given the game developer and publisher a more “pro-developer” image. And to actually put money where its mouth is, the company has just opened the doors to its shiny new Epic Games Store to entice developers with an 88/12 revenue sharing arrangement.
Epic Games' head Tim Sweeney explains in simple terms what Vulkan API is and why the Samsung Galaxy S7 is a gaming trailblazer. This week we've seen some amazing looking graphics coming from Epic Games and Samsung. With the Samsung Galaxy S7, both groups suggest we're entering a new age for gaming on smart mobile devices. It involves Vulkan API, Unreal Engine 4, your CPU, your GPU, and a demo called ProtoStar. But what's that mean to you, the everyday average user?