The world of 3D creation has been revolutionized by a powerful tool known as Unreal Engine, and its impact is far-reaching. Imagine a scenario where a massively popular game like Fortnite, captivating TV news graphics, and critically acclaimed animated series and films all share a common thread - the utilization of Unreal Engine. This engine, initially created for the 1998 game 'Unreal' by Tim Sweeney, has since become a game-changer (pun intended) in the creative industries.
In an industry where most studios develop their own engines, Unreal Engine's availability to other companies was a bold move. It controls the main characteristics of a game world, including sound, graphics, and physics simulation, and its ease of use and power have made it a go-to choice for many.
The latest version of Unreal Engine has been integrated into numerous hit games, such as China's 'Black Myth: Wukong' and France's 'Clair Obscur: Expedition 33'. Even the iconic Lara Croft from 'Tomb Raider' will be crafted using Unreal Engine in her upcoming adventures. Scot Amos, director of Crystal Dynamics studio, highlights the engine's accessibility, stating it provides a broad range of developers with an easy-to-use tool.
The off-the-shelf solution saves time and costs, as developers don't need to teach their team how to use proprietary tech developed in-house. According to Sensor Tower, over a quarter of PC games released in 2024 were built using Unreal Engine, a testament to its popularity and effectiveness.
Brice Roy, director of France's Institute for Digital Creation and Animation (ICAN), emphasizes its indispensability, stating, 'The engine is preconfigured, making it incredibly attractive. As soon as you create a rough build, it looks stunning and works seamlessly.'
But here's where it gets interesting: Epic Games, the developer behind Unreal Engine, has ambitions beyond the gaming industry. A technical demonstration of its real-time modeling power for McLaren, a high-end carmaker, caught the attention of other sectors.
Unreal Engine has since been applied to architectural projects, onboard navigation for cars, and even reconstructions in television news reports. The film and TV industries have also embraced it, with appearances in 'The Mandalorian' and the Oscar-winning short film 'War is Over'.
Sebastien Miglio, Epic's vice-president for Unreal Engine product development, stated, 'We planned to diversify this way.' Epic has been gradually adding functionality to integrate Unreal Engine into various production pipelines across different industries.
With around 600 people working full-time at Epic on the game engine, which boasts over a million monthly users, Unreal Engine is a significant part of Epic's business. Some of its success can be attributed to its unique business model, offering the software for free to game developers and only taking a cut if their work generates over $1 million in revenue.
In other sectors, access costs around $1,800 per user for companies with an annual revenue of over a million.
The generous access policies have made Unreal Engine a boon to online content creators. Sylvain Szewczyk, who uses Unreal to create interview backgrounds and illustrations for his tech-focused YouTube channel with 540,000 subscribers, considers it a free tool that meets his needs.
However, the dominance of Unreal Engine as the first choice for creators could lead to excessive standardization of 3D content, as ICAN's Roy warns. 'Games developed with Unreal often have a graphical footprint that's easy to spot,' he said.
Despite this, Epic has big plans for Unreal Engine, aiming to adapt it for mobile games and enhance its capabilities. 'Today we can make multiplayer games on maps of around eight square kilometers with 100 players,' Epic's Miglio said. 'Our goal is to accommodate up to 100,000 players on maps of 100, 200, or 300 square kilometers.'
And this is the part most people miss: Unreal Engine is not immune to the AI fever of the 2020s. The developer plans to integrate a generative tool for 3D objects and automate certain tasks.
So, what do you think? Is Unreal Engine's dominance a good thing for the creative industries, or does it lead to a lack of diversity? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
