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 a lot of 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. Developers can now reduce their royalty rate 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 can go down from 5% to 3.% of earnings above $1 million USD.
The ‘Launch Everywhere with Epic’ scheme has a lot of nuance in the terms and conditions, and for those that plan on releasing games utilizing Unreal Engine 5 and releasing on the Epic Games Store, it’s worth looking into what this means for you.
In addition, Unreal Engine 5.5 Preview 1 has also been released for those who are interested in the developer tool, and people will be able to dive into it freely. 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 be able 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 comes with new rendering improvements, with Nanite now being 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, which is the Unreal Engine animated biography of Pharrell Williams.
There are plenty of more updates to Unreal Engine 5 that were discussed at Epic Games Unreal Fest, as well as their efforts to make sure 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 portable opened on September 17 initially, but will be fully operational in mid-October.
