Fortnite Players Are Already Making Incredible Things With Unreal

Image: Epic Games

This week, Epic Games unveiled Unreal Editor for Fortnite, a toolset that expands on the battle royale’s existing creator resources and could completely revolutionize the game in the process. Gamers wasted no time getting a glimpse into that potential, using the new tools for everything from recreating scenes from famous games like Grand Theft Auto V to dreaming up entirely new experiences.

The public beta for Unreal Editor went live yesterday, giving anyone interested the chance to start making their own games within Fortnite. Using some of the tools found in the broader Unreal Engine, the editor also lets players take advantage of a new programming language called Verse that Epic says will help streamline some of the process while also offering more customization . The company also promises to pay out a generous portion of its revenue from the game to compensate creators for their work (we’ll see how that portion shakes out once the initiative is further underway).

Since the announcement, players have gone to work on Mario Kart racetracks, Counter-Strike levels, and meme fodder like a giant Shrek tearing through downtown. Creators who had time with the editor before the reveal were able to achieve even more impressive results, such as a recreation of GTA V’s Grove Street. Epic’s own trailer for the announcement concluded with a dramatic and impressive mechanical boss battle that at first glance looks like something out of Titanfall or Metal Gear. Copyright infringement concerns will likely keep some of these creations out of the game, but the results and their speed are still impressive.

In a recent interview with The Verge, Tim Sweeney, co-founder and CEO of Epic, positioned these new tools as another step on the path to help create the metaverse. With the consolidation of Epic’s asset stores, and the promise of importing premade stuff directly into Unreal, the idea is that in the long run certain games will be able to share characters, skins and other things in a way that they can’t right now .

In particular, Epic has been at the forefront of pushing Microsoft and Sony to open up cross-play between Xbox and PlayStation, though the question of who gets the money for the stuff you buy in-game remains a complex one to sort out. What’s clear from how quickly players are making cool stuff with Unreal Editor is that Fortnite is now the least interesting thing about Fortnite.