Epic Games Unreal Fest Showcases New Features For Unreal Engine 5

The Epic Games Unreal Fest opener has concluded, and it was used as a large celebration of the developer and creator ecosystem that has been utilized by those who can access the Unreal Engine and Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). The Fest was used to show off a lot of new features surrounding Epic Games, but most importantly, some of the new features coming to Unreal Engine 5 in the Unreal Engine 5.5 update.

During the opening session, a huge announcement was made, saying there are now new Unreal Engine royalty rate savings when shipping eligible titles on the Epic Games Store. Developers can now reduce their royalty rate from 5% to 3.5%. This is due to the terms of the standard Unreal Engine EULA saying that those who ship a game are generally obligated to pay Epic 5% of worldwide gross revenue. However, effective January 1, 2025, the royalty rate can go down from 5% to 3.% of earnings above $1 million USD.

Related Story Hell is Us Gets 15 Minute Extended Gameplay Video

The 'Launch Everywhere with Epic' scheme has a lot of nuance in the terms and conditions, and for those that plan on releasing games utilizing Unreal Engine 5 and releasing on the Epic Games Store, it's worth looking into what this means for you.

In addition, Unreal Engine 5.5 Preview 1 has also been released for those who are interested in the developer tool, and people will be able to dive into it freely. During the opening session of Epic Games Unreal Fest, guests got to see the new technology that they have been working on within Unreal Engine 5. This includes a live demonstration of a new experimental feature in the software called MegaLights. This enables those using the software to be able to create movable, dynamic and realistic area shadows with the ability to light volumetric fog. The demonstration was shown in real time running on PlayStation 5, where a scene navigated an area with over 1,000 shadow-casting lights.

UE 5.5 also comes with new rendering improvements, with Nanite now being