KEY POINTS

  • "Fortnite" is coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X at launch
  • Moreover, Epic Games plans to transition the game to Unreal Engine 5 by 2021
  • "Fortnite" is also set to support cross-progression and crossplay for the next-gen consoles

Epic Games didn’t waste time and gets ahead of the competition in announcing its plan to bring “Fortnite” to the next generation of gaming.

In its announcement, the North Carolina-based video game developer confirmed that it will be bringing the popular battle royale game to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X when they are launched in Holiday 2020.

While Epic Games didn’t provide any further details about what will specifically change in the game, it noted that the “Fortnite” version that will be rolled out to the next-gen consoles won’t be a new one. Of course, there will be improvements in performance and visuals to take advantage of the new power of PS5 and Xbox Series X.

What’s interesting about Epic Games’ announcement, however, is they confirmed “Fortnite” will migrate to Unreal Engine 5 in 2021. While the next-gen version of the game will be launched with Unreal Engine 4, the wait won’t be that long for players to experience the top-notch quality brought by the newest game engine.

For the uninitiated, Unreal Engine 5 is a game engine developed by Epic Games. The said system provides a generational leap to its predecessor, allowing games to look more realistic with deep geometric details and a “fully dynamic global illumination solution.”

As described on its website, Unreal Engine 5 hopes to “achieve photorealism on par with movie CG and real life.”

With this migration plan and the fact that the game will be played on next-gen consoles, “Fortnite” fans are certainly in for a massive treat with whole new playing experience.

It is also worth noting that Epic Games plans to support cross-progression across consoles, which means a player’s account, items and progression will carry over.

As expected, being at the forefront of crossplay, Epic Games has no plan in stopping with what they started. Crossplay – or the ability to play the same game despite playing on different platforms – will still be supported in the next-generation consoles.

These are certainly noteworthy developments, especially for “Fortnite” which is in a tough competition in the battle royal genre. With games like “Apex Legends” and “Call of Duty: Warzone” also dominating the scene, it is important for “Fortnite” to re-establish itself as one of the better games in the category.

For what it’s worth, “Apex Legends” is also rumored to be planning to jump to the next-gen consoles. “Call of Duty: Warzone” is also likely to follow suit given the trend, so for “Fortnite” to pioneer the transition gives them a slight advantage.

Fortnite
Epic removed video capture feature on "Fortnite" for the Nintendo Switch. Epic Games