The calm before the storm
Epic Games announces Unreal Fest 2024, and their intention to return to iOS. Plus: the phenomenon that is Palworld.
Nick Pfisterer •
How is the new year treating you so far? Things are relatively quiet in the realm of Unreal Engine for now, but consider this the calm before the storm. GDC is less than two months away, and Unreal Engine 5.4 probably isn't far behind. FAB is scheduled to launch this year, as is the new Unreal Engine pricing for non-game licensees.
That is to say nothing of the rapidly evolving world of generative AI. It is like a tidal wave that grows larger every time I look at it. Some of us are not thrilled about this, but you know what? I recommend preparing for it now. Sooner or later, it will reach all of our shores.
It's going to be a year to remember.
📰 In this month's issue:
- Unreal Fest 2024 announced
- Epic Games Store coming to iOS
- The controversial success of Palworld
Recently in Unreal
- Unreal Fest 2024 has been announced – Epic Games has just announced plans for six Unreal Fest events around the world in 2024. Starting in May, the conference is coming to the Gold Coast, Prague, Seattle, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo. If you are interested in speaking, you can submit a proposal for Prague until February 29, and Gold Coast until March 18.
- Epic Games Store is coming to iOS in 2024 – at least in Europe. Thanks to the EU's new Digital Markets Act that takes effect March 7 (more on this later), Epic Games has declared their intention to bring Fortnite back to iOS by finally launching the Epic Games Store on the platform – something Tim has wanted to do for years. More details to come.
- No Verse for UE5 in 2024 – In response to an X post by UEFN developer Warforge, Tim Sweeney stated that Verse is not coming to Unreal Engine 5 in 2024. Perhaps more intriguing, Tim also offered a rare glimpse into his vision for Unreal Engine 6. For now, it seems, Tim will be ready to increase the version number when UE5 supports not only Verse, but the ability to more readily contribute to an ecosystem of Fortnite-like experiences, ushered in by new standards and technologies as yet seen.
- Animating in Unreal Engine 5.3 tutorial series – Epic has released a series of 8 bite-sized tutorials designed to help you get started with animating in Unreal Engine 5.3. The videos cover hotkeys, constraints, animation layers, rigging, and more.
- Get this month's free Marketplace content – These assets will be available for free until March 5, 2024 when Epic cycles them out for March's free content. Remember: you're just purchasing an entitlement to use the content. You don't have to download any of it right away. I recommend grabbing everything, even if you don't need it — you might someday.
A world of pals
You may have heard about a little Unreal Engine 4 game that came out a few weeks ago on PC and Xbox. It blends survival, crafting, and open-world exploration. There are guns. There are creatures to collect. I am, of course, talking about Palworld by Japanese developer Pocketpair, and to say the launch was successful would be quite the understatement. Allow me to share some numbers with you:
- 2 million units sold in the first day (1 million in the first 8 hours)
- Over 215,000 reviews on Steam
- 2.1 million peak concurrent players – the second highest in Steam's history (#1 is still 3.2 million, achieved by Player Unknown's Battlegrounds in January 2018)
- 19 million total players – 12 million on Steam, 7 million on Xbox
- Projected server costs for February are 70.53 million yen – about $469,000
The game's launch also resulted in downtime for their Discord server and even Epic Online Services.
While much of the Palworld discourse has focused on impressive numbers, PR stunts, and accusations of plagiarism, there is a far more interesting story underneath it all about how this game came to be. Just three days before releasing the game, Takuro Mizobe, CEO of Pocketpair, wrote an extensive blog post – translated from Japanese to English with Google Translate – about the remarkable journey of creating and releasing Palworld. Some of the impact is likely lost in Google's translation, but I think many developers will find relatable stories here. It's worth reading the entire post, but here are a few of my highlights:
- The game's weapon animations were created by a 20-year-old artist with no industry experience. He learned by watching YouTube tutorials in his spare time while working part-time at a convenience store.
- Mizobe and his team originally built Palworld in Unity. However, when a very experienced engineer named Mr. Matsutani expressed interest in joining the team, Mizobe made a big bet and agreed to migrate from Unity to Unreal Engine 4 – effectively rebuilding the entire game from scratch.
- For every engineer aside from Matsutani, this was their first experience with Unreal Engine. It was up to Matsutani to not only lead them, but teach them how to use the engine.
- Surprisingly, Matsutani had no experience with Git. He recommended using Perforce with Unreal, but Mizobe thought Perforce was too expensive. So, in addition to migrating from Unity to Unreal Engine 4, the team migrated from Git to SVN.
In other news
- Valve's new policy for AI content on Steam – After taking some time to figure things out, Valve has published their first clear policy for AI-generated content on Steam. Two things are happening: Developers are now required to fill out an AI disclosure when submitting a game to Steam, and much of that disclosure will appear on the game's store page. Additionally, players can now use the in-game Steam overlay to report what they believe to be illegal content inside games that contain live-generated AI content.
- Apple's plans for the DMA in the European Union – I won't even attempt to summarize the European Union's Digital Markets Act, nor Apple's plans for complying. John Gruber does a great job of elaborating on both, breaking down the key points, and what it all mean for developers.
- Do wishlists matter anymore? – Back in October, Valve released a very helpful video about how visibility works on Steam. In that video, Erik Peterson stated that wishlists do not directly impact your visibility on Steam. Some developers took that to mean wishlists don't matter at all, and questioned why we were still asking for them. Chris Zukowski clarifies what is going on here, and explains why, even though Erik's statement is technically correct, you should probably still be asking for wishlists in the lead up to your game's launch.
Community highlights
ENENRA: DΔEMON CORE is a third-person hack-and-slash game by solo developer Zahid Ali Jeelani. It's currently being made with Unreal Engine 5.1, and it looks pretty remarkable for a game made by a single person. This new trailer showcases the acrobatic exploration and fast-paced combatIf you are a fan of Devil May Cry or anything by Platinum Games, I highly recommend checking it out. You can add it to your wishlist on Steam. Release date TBA.
Maxim Dorokhov from BlueTwelve Studio (Stray) has remade Room 302 from Silent Hill 4: The Room in Unreal Engine 5, and the results are very impressive. Maxim captured the ominous atmosphere of the original game perfectly – so much so that it left me wanting to play a full-scale remake. See stills and details on Maxim's ArtStation.
Thomas Ripoll Kobayashi, an environment artist at Kojima Productions, is creating a Mirror's Edge-inspired scene in UE5 during his spare time. It has been months in the making, but it is finally coming together as he finds time to add small details and finishing touches. It's a beautiful scene that really showcases Kobayashi's skills. I consider Mirror's Edge to be a masterclass in art direction, and it seems Kobayashi would agree.
Miha Maruško, associate environment artist at Disruptive Games, created this striking scene featuring a lighthouse on top of a giant tortoise. The colors and details look great, but most of all, I love the surreal setting. It reminds me of something you might see in a Miyazaki film. Video, stills, and full details available on Miha's ArtStation.