Epic Games has given us our first look at Unreal Engine 6, with developer Psyonix’s 2015 vehicular soccer game Rocket League being the first title to be updated to the next generation of its proprietory 3D creation software.
Unveiled during the Rocket League Championship Series Paris Major, the reveal trailer showcased an updated version of the game running on the newest engine, alongside an additional first look at Epic’s new purple logo for Unreal Engine 6. While both studios did not outline the specific improvements the shift to UE6 will provide, the trailer does show off some noticably shinier graphics, and states that all footage shown were “captured real-time in game”, although it’s currently unclear when Unreal Engine 6 will be launched, and similarly, when the game will be upgraded to the new engine.
With this announcement, Epic seems to be taking a different approach when it comes to revealing its next big technological advancements. While Unreal Engine 5 was announced in 2020 via a stunning PS5 tech demo titled “Lumen in the Land of Nanite”, our first look at its next generation comes from a game that is actually out, which does allow for a more natural depiction of how things like graphical fidelity have been improved as opposed to a tech demo crafted specifically to show off the new tech.
Additionally, the fact that Rocket League will be the first title to receive the Unreal Engine 6 upgrade does make sense, considering the game is currently still running on the outdated Unreal Engine 3, and is due for an upgrade. However, it remains to be seen how much of an impact its shift to the new engine would be, especially with regards to performance. As much as it helped to push graphical fidelity, Unreal Engine 5 had the reputation of poor performance and optimisation, with even modern titles still facing issues till this day, which does pose the question of whether the studio should focus on fixing UE5 before deciding to launch a newer and potentially even more technically complicated successor.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
