Epic Games shared details on the upcoming version of its game engine and announced a significant update to Unreal Engine 5 during the Unreal Fest event held on Wednesday. The maker of Fortnite explained that Unreal Engine 6, previously hinted at during the Rocket League Championship Series last month, will incorporate leading generative AI systems such as Claude and Gemini. These additions aim to assist developers in producing game assets more quickly and minimize repetitive manual efforts.

The reveals took place during the State of the Unreal presentation at Unreal Fest on Wednesday, where Epic formally introduced Unreal Engine 6 and outlined its primary capabilities. The firm noted that UE6 will combine UE5 and Unreal Editor for Fortnite into one unified offering. This setup enables creators to develop and launch projects for standard platforms, Fortnite, or custom live services that may span multiple products.

Epic outlined three main focus areas for Unreal Engine 6 during the session, with the most prominent being the incorporation of Large Language Models including Claude, Gemini, and similar systems. These AI capabilities in UE6 are designed to let developers prioritize core creative and technical work rather than repetitive manual processes, according to the company.

The firm emphasized that the generative AI features will take on a central function in speeding up content production while keeping creative oversight intact and cutting down on routine tasks.

In addition, UE6 will introduce a fresh gameplay system called Scene Graph, which is constructed using Verse, Epic's advanced programming framework.

Lastly, UE6 will support the transfer of content and code between different games and engines. This compatibility allows items like Fortnite cosmetics to move across titles developed with the engine.

UE6 will continue supporting the core functions expected from Unreal Engine. Rendering quality will improve further, build times will decrease, iteration cycles will tighten, and mobile capabilities will expand, Epic noted in a blog update.

Unreal Engine 6 is planned for Early Access at the close of 2027, followed by the complete launch of UE6 within the next 12 to 18 months after that.

Unreal Engine 5.8 Released

During the State of Epic session, Epic Games also confirmed the availability of the Unreal Engine 5.8 update. This release delivers performance gains, quicker tools for creating characters and animations inside the engine, and various enhancements to simplify development processes.

The newest version adds Mesh Terrain, a fresh system based on 3D meshes for building larger and more intricate landscapes, Epic explained. Additional elements in Unreal Engine 5.8 cover upgrades to virtual production, precise full-body motion capture, faster content generation through built-in LLM tools, and other improvements.

Moreover, advances in real-time rendering and lighting will enable titles using global illumination to achieve 60 frames per second on Nintendo Switch 2, Epic stated. This points to stronger performance for games made with Unreal Engine on the upcoming Switch 2 hardware.

UE 5.8 marks the final major update planned for Unreal Engine 5 as Epic shifts focus toward UE6 development, the company confirmed. We will keep providing support for UE5 through bug fixes and regressions and could issue another official release if needed, Epic added.