The Epic Games Unreal Fest opener has concluded, and it was used as a large celebration of the developer and creator ecosystem that has been utilized by those who can access the Unreal Engine and Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). The Fest was used to show off many new features surrounding Epic Games, but most importantly, some of the new features coming to Unreal Engine 5 in the Unreal Engine 5.5 update.
During the opening session, a huge announcement was made, saying there are now new Unreal Engine royalty rate savings when shipping eligible titles on the Epic Games Store before or on the same time as on other platforms. Developers can now reduce the royalty they must pay Epic from 5% to 3.5%. This is due to the terms of the standard Unreal Engine EULA saying that those who ship a game are generally obligated to pay Epic 5% of worldwide gross revenue.
However, effective January 1, 2025, the royalty rate will decrease from 5% to 3.5% for earnings above $1 million. Again, this pertains to the royalty fee when the Unreal Engine game is published in other stores, like Steam; Epic already completely waived the fee for UE games shipping on its own store. The terms and conditions of the 'Launch Everywhere with Epic' scheme are nuanced, and for those who plan to do that, it's worth looking into exactly what this means for them.
In addition, Unreal Engine 5.5 Preview 1 has been released for those interested in the developer tool. During the opening session of Epic Games Unreal Fest, guests got to see the new technology that they have been working on within Unreal Engine 5. This includes a live demonstration of a new experimental feature in the software called MegaLights. This enables those using the software to create movable, dynamic, and realistic area shadows with the ability to light volumetric fog. The demonstration was shown in real time running on PlayStation 5, where a scene navigated an area with over 1,000 shadow-casting lights.
UE 5.5 also includes new rendering improvements, with Nanite now able to render Skeletal Meshes much faster and Path Tracer being Production-Ready. This feature has already been used in major movies, including Piece by Piece, the Unreal Engine animated biography of Pharrell Williams.
Plenty of more updates to Unreal Engine 5 were discussed at Epic Games Unreal Fest, as well as their efforts to ensure that high-end games on mobile are supported with the utilization of UE 5.5.
Additionally announced was the Fab Publishing Portal, which will unify the Unreal Engine Marketplace, Sketchfab Store, ArtStation Marketplace, and Quixel.com, allowing developers to shop and sell assets all in one place on an 88/12 revenue. The portal initially opened on September 17 but will be fully operational in mid-October.
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