Fortnite will be available to play on both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X when the new consoles launch later this year, Epic Games announced today.
The game will be the Unreal Engine 4 version of Fortnite, specifically Unreal Engine 4.25, and not the new Unreal Engine 5, which will launch in 2021. Fortnite will update to Unreal Engine 5 next year.
“We’re gonna be launching Fortnite on next-generation consoles using Unreal Engine 4.25, which is going to be updated, which lots of partners are launching next-generation games on, and we’ll transition Fortnite to Unreal Engine 5 next year and start to incorporate cool new features based on it,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney told Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter, first reported by Eurogamer.
Unreal Engine 4.25 launched earlier this month and it includes support for PS5 and Xbox Series X. Some of the features of the new engine are already in Fortnite, according to Epic.
“The Fortnite team has been battle-testing Niagara VFX and Chaos physics, and these feature sets are now in use in currently shipping seasons of the game,” Epic said. “Niagara is now production-ready, with a polished new UI and significant performance and stability improvements. There are also a host of new features, including the ability to create complex, large-scale particle effects such as flocking and chains, and to have particles react to music or other audio sources—all in real-time.”
It’s unclear exactly how Fortnite will be different on the new consoles, but improved visuals and framerate is a safe bet.
