The New Unreal Editor for Fortnite by Epic Games, 40% of all revenue to creators
April 2, 2023
Epic Games is preparing to release an “open to all” Unreal Engine 5 editor for Fortnite, and will let creators monetize which they do. CEO Tim Sweeney told Fast Company that about half of player time in Fortnite is spent playing other users’ content and Epic Games wants to make that experience more complete through the editor and the functionality to monetize that custom content.
Unreal Engine 5
“We’re going to throw in Unreal Editor for Fortnite, the entire abilities that you’ve seen [in Unreal Engine] opened up for anyone to be able to generate fairly high-quality game code and content, and implement it into Fortnite without having to make a deal with ourselves. It’s open to everyone.”
Sweeney said.
He added that Epic Games’ goal is to make Fortnite a marketplace similar to Steam or the App Store, comparing it to other games like Roblox which, while commonly free to download and play, show player-made content that can be purchased with real money. Sweeney said:
“We’re creating an economy, and I’m going to support creators who actually build businesses around their work and get more of the great business profits that come from the individuals who reproduce their content.”
Epic Games‘ Unreal Engine 5 was released back in April and the developers already keep making some pretty amazing things. Doing a solo job, Lorenzo Drago designed an incredibly realistic scene of a Japanese railway station that is almost indistinguishable from real life. This initiative to monetize this custom Unreal Engine 5 content further connects with Epic Games‘ push into the metaverse, an all-encompassing digital world with its own economy. In which Sony and LEGO parent company KIRKBI invested thousands of millions. Fortnite itself is already experimenting a lot with the term putting “the real planet” in a shared online place. Countless interactions across the biggest entertainment franchises and Epic Games combined with the addition of real events like Coachella have already brought the initiative to life, and having its own economy will only reinforce that.
What can you do with UEFN?
UEFN builds on the concepts used in the Fortnite Creative toolkit, with the addition of new tools and abilities. The beta gives the author an initial version of UEFN that will evolve based on their recommendations. With this beta version of UEFN, you will have the possibility to:
- Design custom content with material building and modeling tools. Import meshes, textures, animations and audio.
- Use Niagara to generate visual effects.
- Animate with control equipment and sequencer.
- Design game mechanics with Verse.
- Building landscapes to generate spaces.
- Generate broader experiences with World Partition.
- Use Fab (alpha) to find and import resources.
- Use the live version to help in real time with other people.
- Assist with Unreal Review Control.
How is UEFN different from Fortnite Creative mode?
UEFN is a unique editor for PC that makes it possible to work in 3D viewers with Fortnite Creative mode tools (devices). Unlike Fortnite’s Creative mode, where you build and edit your islands in Fortnite, developers have the ability to step into Unreal Editor for Desktop’s sequence of tools and workflows, much like what Epic Games uses to develop.
How is UEFN different from Unreal Engine 5? UEFN is designed to generate experiences for Fortnite. This means that every experience you create can be shared in the Fortnite ecosystem, with a viable audience of millions of people. To achieve this, UEFN combines the tools of Fortnite’s Creative mode with Unreal Editor. So Unreal Engine creators can develop content for Fortnite through a familiar interface.
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