Epic CEO Tim Sweeney shared plans for the company's development over the next 10 years. The new Unreal Engine 6 game engine will become a "metaverse" for game developers. This was reported by The Verge.
According to Tim Sweeney, Unreal Engine 6 will allow developers to "build an app once and then deploy it as a standalone game for any platform." Developers will be able to deploy their work in Fortnite or other Unreal games.
To do this, Epic plans to combine the capabilities of the Unreal Engine with the Unreal Editor for Fortnite, which should be easier to use. Triple-A game developers, indie game developers, and Fortnite modders will all get the same development opportunities.
Sweeney says the company is well positioned for the future, and that it has the ability to make the long-term bets he talked about at the conference. This is helped by the fact that Epic's financial position has become more"robust."
“Last year, before Unreal Fest, we were spending about a billion dollars a year more than we were making,” Sweeney says. “Now, we’re spending a bit more than we’re making.”
Epic believes that the future of video games lies in multiplayer formats.
“The whole thesis here is that players are gravitating towards games which they can play together with all their friends, and players are spending more on digital items in games that they trust they’re going to play for a long time,” Sweeney says.
But research shows that gamers still play more single-player games.