Fortnite video game’s development switches to Unreal Engine 5

Brad Stephenson

Fortnite unreal engine 5 character skin.

Development on the mega-popular Fortnite video game has now officially switched in full to Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5 game engine. The announcement was made via the official Unreal Engine Twitter account today, a few days after the launch of Fortnite Chapter 3.

“With the arrival of Chapter 3, Fortnite development has flipped to Unreal Engine 5,” the tweet reads. “We’re excited to share this journey with you and are working to make this the best experience possible for the entire Fortnite community.”

Unreal Engine 5 is a new game engine that allows developers to create more advanced gameplay and visuals without the need for physical hardware upgrades. The engine was released in early access for developers in early-2021 and is expected to launch in full sometime in 2022.

It’s unconfirmed what major changes, if any, Unreal Engine 5 could bring to Fortnite though it’s a safe bet that this engine upgrade could at least help the title load assets faster on its large Battle Royale map and allow for more epic in-game events. Curiously, today’s announcement also means that Harmonix is also now working with Unreal Engine 5. It was announced last month that the Dance Central studio is now creating music experiences for Fortnite for Epic Games.

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