Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney recently described a long-term plan for Unreal Games and Fortnite that could finally create the kind of game-agnostic digital assets marketplace Web3 gamers have been dreaming of since the advent of the metaverse.
In a recent interview with The Verge, Sweeney discussed the company’s upcoming Unreal Engine 6.
Unreal is among the most popular game engines in the world. It’s used by developers around the world to make titles such as Epic’s own Fortnite as well as the Mass Effect series and dozens of other AAA gaming franchises and titles.
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine 5 was released in 2022. In the gaming industry, this means it’s relatively new and most gamers have only seen a handful of titles showcasing its capabilities. On Oct. 6, for example, Halo developer 343 Industries announced it had multiple Unreal Engine 5 games in development.
The typical lifespan of a gaming engine ranges from around seven to ten years. Thus, it’s unlikely we’ll see Unreal Engine 6 before 2030.
But, according to the company’s CEO, it appears that Epic already has ambitious goals for its flagship software. Sweeny also appears to believe there’s a paradigm shift coming with the next generation of multiplayer gaming development.
“The whole thesis here is that players are gravitating towards games which they can play together with all their friends,” said Sweeney, in the interview, adding that “players are spending more on digital items in games that they trust they’re going to play for a long time.”
It’s likely Sweeney was referencing his own company’s successful game, Fortnite. But titles such as Grand Theft Auto Online have also demonstrated the point that, when it comes to AAA games that operate on in-game purchases for revenue, a handful have managed to crack the formula for turning digital assets into company profits.
Per Sweeney, however, the ecosystem needs to expand beyond walled gardens and into an actual metaverse for gamers:
“If you’re just dabbling in a game, why would you spend money to buy an item that you’re never going to use again? If we have an interoperable economy, then that will increase player trust that today’s spending on buying digital goods results in things that they’re going to own for a long period of time, and it will work in all the places they go.”
Interoperability
In the past 24 months, the gaming industry has experienced a period of mass layoffs that have left a few AAA gaming firms unscathed. Even Epic Games laid off 830 employees — about 16% of its staff — in September 2023.
Part of the downturn, according to analysts, can be attributed to the industry’s boom during the COVID-19 lockdowns. With much of the world’s population stuck indoors, the gaming sector saw unprecedented adoption. Years later, however, many of the jobs created during this period have been lost as studios reorganized or shuttered altogether.
The path forward, according to Epic Games, is one the cryptocurrency, blockchain, and Web3 communities know well: the commoditization of digital assets.
Epic Games’ executive vice president Saxs Persson, speaking to The Verge, explained that the company’s vision for the future of gaming is one where interoperability keeps gamers engaged no matter what platform they choose:
“There’s no reason why we couldn’t have a federated way to flow between Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite. From our perspective, that would be amazing, because it keeps people together and lets the best ecosystem win.”
Despite the fact that Minecraft was originally created in Java and Roblox was developed using a proprietary engine, the potential for interoperability is evidently being baked into Unreal Engine 6.
Ostensibly, this would require blockchain technology to ensure trustless verification between systems without compromising company privacy.
Cointelegraph reached out to Epic Games for comment but didn’t receive an immediate response.
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