‘More powerful hardware will allow us to improve performance and visuals’
It appears as if this is “Epic Day,” as we enter this completely mishmash summer-without-E3 where anyone and everyone is doing hours-long press conferences on random weekday afternoons.
In addition to confirming the bombshell of Unreal Engine 5, Epic Games also managed to sneak out a tease for Fortnite on next-gen consoles. Epic says this is “not a new version of Fornite,” but instead will “take advantage of new hardware and features” for next-gen machines. In other words, it’s kind of like how the Switch and mobile versions are the same game, just with different levels of visual fidelity.
Naturally, since Epic is trying to get the word out in this utter chaos of the “Summer of Gaming,” this is all super early and Epic “cannot share specifics at the moment.” When those next-gen consoles do arrive in what is planned to be a “holiday 2020 window,” as per Sony and Microsoft, it will use Unreal Engine 4: then swap to Unreal Engine 5 in mid-2021.
Epic “plans to support cross-progression across console generations and platforms,” if your kid bought hundreds of dollars of skins. Cross-play is also confirmed for “all platforms, including current and next-gen consoles.” Oh, and previous platforms won’t be left in the dust when the next generation arrives, Epic says.
Fortnite is Headed to Next-Gen Consoles [Epic Games]
