Epic Games announced Unreal Engine 6 on June 17 with generative AI features and plans for portable Fortnite cosmetics. The reveal came during State of Unreal and Unreal Fest 2026 in Chicago. Developer Poncle said it is reviewing a planned Fortnite crossover due to the AI push.
Tim Sweeney, Epic CEO, spoke at Unreal Fest 2026 and described AAA development costs as unsustainable while positioning Unreal Engine 6 as an open alternative to platforms like Roblox. He said the engine would connect games, communities, and economies across developers.
Marcus Wassmer, development team lead, detailed the engine's unification of Unreal Engine 5 and the Fortnite editor. He highlighted portable cosmetics that let players use Fortnite outfits in other Unreal Engine games and tools to build outfits that work inside Fortnite. Early access testing is scheduled for the end of 2027 with full release 12 to 18 months later.
Poncle, developer of Vampire Survivors, posted on Reddit that it is reviewing its upcoming Fortnite collaboration after Epic showed generative AI use for assets and code. The studio said it would update players if the deal moves forward.
Epic also released the Unreal MCP plugin for Unreal Engine 5.8, allowing large language models to interact directly with the engine for tasks like scene generation.
