• by Colin Kirkland , October 7, 2024

In an effort to bridge the gap between gaming universes and redefine the sale of digital goods, the tech giant behind popular gaming platform "Fortnite" is planning to merge its suite of high-end game development tools -- Unreal Engine -- with its simpler Unreal Editor for Fortnite, according to Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney.

With “robust” funding, Sweeney, who spoke recently with The Verge, believes that Epic is in a position to “execute for the rest of this decade,” which includes the creation of what he’s calling “Unreal Engine 6.”

“That's going to take several years,” Sweeney said, adding that Unreal 6 will allow developers to “build an app once and then deploy it as a standalone game for any platform,” inching the gaming world closer to interoperability and a potential metaverse experience where users can purchase digital goods and utilize them across various gaming platforms, like Roblox and Minecraft.

Sweeney used Epic's ongoing work with Disney as an example of the interoperable future it’s trying to build.

In February, Disney marked its biggest foray into the gaming space by investing $1.5 billion in an equity stake in Epic Games, with goals to create an “expansive and open games and entertainment universe” where users can “play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more.”

Notably, Disney's universe -- created with Unreal Engine -- will be interoperable with the Fortnite ecosystem.

This type of product, according to Sweeney, is what Epic wants to make possible for “everybody” -- “Triple-A game developers to indie game developers to Fortnite creators” – using Unreal Engine 6.

Sweeney also said that it plans on creating these kinds of experiences for other brands aside from Disney, with the underlying goal of making digital goods more functional for users./p>

“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?” Sweeney said, highlighting the current popularity of social games like "Fortnite" and "Roblox."

“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 are going to own for a long period of time, and it will work in all the places they go," he added.

While Sweeney's metaverse gaming reality is contingent on the development of Unreal Engine 6 and some type of agreement between competing social gaming platforms, it would provide new opportunities for brands curious about targeting new audiences within virtual gaming environments.