All articles tagged with #unreal engine
Halo Studios has reportedly canceled Project Ekur, a large-scale Halo multiplayer concept prototyped by Certain Affinity featuring playable Spartans and Elites with full customization and big-team battles. The cancellation, tied to broader Xbox cost-cutting and reported development problems, leaves the fate of Halo’s competitive multiplayer uncertain, with no official statement issued.
Microsoft's Xbox layoffs reportedly gut id Software's id Tech team, leaving only one engineer and raising fears the Doom engine could fade as Unreal Engine tightens its industry grip.
A fan-made remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, developed in Unreal Engine by CryZENx since 2016, has been scrapped to avoid potential Nintendo legal action, following Nintendo’s announcement of an official Ocarina of Time remake for Switch 2 in 2026. CryZENx said they’re retiring the project but may reuse assets in future Zelda/Nintendo projects, with the fan remake previously drawing millions of views.
CryZENx has ended a decade-long PC recreation of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, saying on Patreon it’s safer to pause the project after Nintendo’s Switch 2 remake reveal and due to fears of “Nintendo ninjas.” The piece notes Nintendo’s history of IP enforcement, including past actions against Pocketpair and Genki, and that CryZENx may pivot to other Nintendo-inspired ideas.
Duncan Jones' indie, R-rated animated Rogue Trooper premiered at Annecy, using Unreal Engine and performance-capture to deliver a hyper-kinetic, comic-book–flavored sci‑fi war epic on a tight budget.
Halo: Campaign Evolved’s updated Halo ring has sparked online backlash, as fans argue the added depth and detail make the ring feel smaller and less mysterious than the original. While some nostalgia is expressed, many critics say the design choices undermine the sense of scale and depth, even though the ring’s exterior is rarely visible in-game. The remake isn’t deemed a deal-breaker, but there’s clear disappointment about this direction for Halo rings.
Legendary Unreal level designer Sjoerd de Jong leaves Epic Games after 12 years as Unreal Engine 6 is unveiled with heavy AI integration (Claude and Gemini) and UEFN. The move comes amid industry anxiety about AI overtaking game development, though Epic says humans will still guide the process. De Jong’s departure, paired with UE6’s direction beyond UE5.8’s AI-driven world generation, underscores the industry-wide shift toward AI-assisted workflows while he remains optimistic about adapting to the new landscape.
CryZENx creator Giuseppe Macula has officially halted his decade-long fan remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time after Nintendo revealed its own high-budget Switch 2 remake; he says he doesn’t want to step on Nintendo’s release and plans to pivot to other projects, asking fans what to tackle next.
Xbox is rolling out Unreal Engine 5.8 plugins to cut the friction of PC game development for Xbox, allowing developers to stay on Win64, keep existing third‑party plug‑ins, and ship more easily across PC storefronts via tools like GDK Store, GDK Runtime, Online Subsystem GDK, and Online Subsystem Selector as part of a broader Project Helix initiative.
Epic’s Unreal Engine 5.8 adds Lumen Lite, a low-GPU-cost mode for dynamic global illumination that preserves much of the visuals while enabling around 60fps on Switch 2 handheld (and on PC). The mode uses irradiance fields with probe occlusion and is touted as roughly twice as fast as Lumen High Quality. UE5.8 is described as the last major UE5 update as Epic shifts focus to Unreal Engine 6, with ongoing optimization work for Switch 2.
Poncle says it’s reviewing its Fortnite collaboration after Epic’s State of Unreal showcased AI-assisted asset creation, sparking concerns about generative AI’s impact on creativity, copyright, and jobs. The move reflects broader industry debates as Epic touts AI tools and executives suggest AI will be involved in most future game production.
Epic Games revealed the Unreal MCP plugin for Unreal Engine 5.8, letting generative AI LLMs plug into the engine and be guided via text prompts. Demonstrations showed Claude generating and adjusting scene elements like furniture and lighting, building a cityscape with AI and manual tweaks, and quickly addressing hazards—illustrating a potential shift from months of work to days of iteration while developers retain control. The move reinforces AI-assisted game creation as a way to accelerate content creation without replacing the engine itself.
Epic's Unreal Engine 5.8 introduces a Lite version of its Lumen lighting system, Lumen Lite, which runs twice as fast and enables Switch 2 games to run at 60fps, signaling stronger optimization for the platform and paving the way for more UE5 titles on Switch 2.
Epic Games publicly demonstrates the use of generative AI tools in Fortnite development, showing AI-generated renders and assets that introduce unintended details. Artists then spend time cleaning up the AI’s mistakes, highlighting concerns that GenAI can save time but may sacrifice originality and lead to more work for creators. The video follows prior AI-related incidents in Fortnite and comes after Epic laid off about 1,000 staff, fueling debate about the role of automation in game development.
Teamfight Tactics is migrating from the Hextech engine to Unreal with Set 18 (not a sequel), signaling long-term innovation; a dedicated TFT client will arrive four patches after launch (around Oct 9), while the PC client stays on Hextech until then. Logging in remains via Riot accounts, and a four-week PBE starts July 14 to test Unreal. Settings will reset during the transition; the initial Unreal patch will be larger before patch sizes normalize. Cosmetics will port to the new Loadout and RP/currencies carry over. Existing Little Legends can be used as ARAM companions before the switch, but ongoing support for ARAM companions for new Little Legends will end long-term. Minimum specs remain similar for mobile with Android/iOS thresholds and PC requirements of Windows 10, DirectX 11, Shader Model 5.