Epic Games’ Unreal Engine game development platform now supports Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Sony’s PlayStation 5, Epic announced today. The support comes as part of the newest Unreal Engine release, version 4.25, and it should benefit developers as they prepare to launch games for the next generation of consoles, both of which are scheduled to come out this holiday season.
Epic notes that this is only “initial” support for the PS5 and Xbox Series X and that it will be releasing updates with “optimizations, fixes, and certification requirements to support developers launching on the next generation of consoles” throughout the year.
Unreal Engine’s Niagara visual effects system, which was tested in Epic’s battle royale hit Fortnite, has also now left beta and is production-ready in 4.25, according to Epic. The update also includes “production-ready support” for Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 mixed reality headset, enhancements to Unreal Engine’s Chaos physics and destruction system, shading model improvements, improved audio features, and more.
Unreal Engine is one of the most widely used game development platforms in the world, powering many high-profile games. Epic made Unreal Engine free for developers in March 2015, though they have to pay Epic a cut of revenue if they sell a game made using the engine. As part of its push to compete with Valve’s Steam store on PC by offering developers more generous terms and exclusivity deals, Epic waives the 5 percent Unreal fee it charges for sales of games through its store.
