Epic Games Launches Unreal Editor for Fortnite in Public Beta

Epic Games has officially launched the public beta of its Unreal Editor for Fortnite, a move aimed at bridging the power of Unreal Engine with the vast Fortnite audience. The announcement was made during the State of Unreal event at GDC 2023, where executive vice president Saxs Persson outlined the vision for a connected metaverse. The Unreal Editor for Fortnite, or UEFN, will enable cross-play collaboration, allowing players across different platforms to build and play together seamlessly. A new creator portal has also been introduced, providing developers with a centralized hub for their creative endeavors. Epic's goal is to achieve full interoperability between Unreal Engine and UEFN, with the latter being supported by a new programming language called Verse. The UEFN economy, dubbed Creator Economy 2.0, will see Epic share 40% of Fortnite's net revenue with developers, with the amount determined by factors such as engagement, popularity, and player retention. This revenue will be generated from Fortnite's Item Shop and real-money purchases. In a significant move, Epic has also announced a unified marketplace called Fab, which will offer assets for all game engines, including Unity, with an 88% revenue share for developers. The company has reiterated its commitment to open and fair marketplaces, citing it as a key component of the metaverse. Additionally, Epic has showcased new procedural tools for Unreal Engine 5.2, enabling developers to create a wide range of environments and materials with ease. The company has also introduced Metahuman Animator, an extension of its Metahuman technology, which can animate characters in a matter of minutes using just a few seconds of footage. With these updates, Epic is poised to revolutionize the gaming and development landscape, bringing its vision of a unified metaverse one step closer to reality.