Epic Games Clarifies Unreal Engine 5 Support Will Extend To Nintendo Switch As Well In Recent Interview

As we are all aware from the reveal that took place earlier this week, Epic Games during Wednesday’s Summer Game Fest utilized the platform to introduce the next iteration for the company’s ongoing engine, Unreal Engine 5. The firm demonstrated the new technological capabilities of the approaching system by showcasing the new tools that make developing video games less of a hassle for studios working with Unreal.

The team shared two main features that bridge the current Unreal Engine 4 to the next-generation: Nanite & Lumen. The first shares to offer seamless object conversion to the game without compromising the performance or resolution of the game. Developers will be able to full encapture the essence of their title without having to compress the landscape. The latter Lumen is a global illumination applicant which allows for light to bounce properly in the respected scene without expensively discounting the experience of the game.

While the new engine has been tossed around to be a main focus for the coming PlayStation 5, which it was demoed on, and Xbox Series X, we are still left in the dark if Unreal Engine 5 can be seen making its debut to lesser platforms as well. Although Epic Games did clarify that mobile devices is a projected platform, the firm did not explain in full detail on how that will be pursued during the showcase.

Elsewhere in an interview with Eurogamer, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeny explains that current hardware is compatible for the Unreal Engine 5 alongside mobile platforms and even implied Nintendo Switch to be included as well.

To maintain compatibility with the older generation platforms, we have this next generation content pipeline where you build your assets or import them at the highest level of quality, the film level of quality that you’ll run directly on next generation consoles. The engine provides and will provide more scalability points to down-resolution your content to run on everything, all the way down to iOS and Android devices from several years ago. So you build the content once and you can deploy it everywhere and you can build the same game for all these systems, but you just get a different level of graphical fidelity.

Furthermore on the engine demonstration presented for ‘Lumen in the Land of Nanite’, Epic Games clarified when speaking with Geoff Keighley initially that the tech demo was not doctored or interrupted for the sake of the showcase. Instead, the firm shared that the entire scene shared was played in real-time. However, Epic Games does clarify that the presentation will not break into a full retail title when Unreal Engine 5 debuts next year.

At the same time, Epic Games also spoke on the matters of Fortnite to share that the popular battle royale will be expecting an upgrade to Unreal Engine 5 as well. While not specifying when, it is expected to transition when the engine drops in the coming eyar. You can read the full report by heading here.

What games do you hope to see utilize Unreal Engine 5 on Nintendo Switch?

Unreal Engine 5 is projected to ship for public in 2021.

Source: Eurogamer