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Epic Games’ 2025 edition of its Unreal Fest conference is set to kick off on June 3rd in Orlando. There’s likely going to be a lot of news from the show; the company’s Unreal Engine is used as part of making many of the world’s biggest video games and entertainment, and Fortnite is still a huge game that’s getting new experiences all the time thanks to the Unreal Editor for Fortnite.
At the show, Epic will be hosting its annual State of Unreal keynote, which will begin at 9:30AM ET on June 3rd. The company hasn’t said much about what will be announced, but it’s promising that it will “share what’s next for Unreal Engine and the Epic ecosystem.”
The show also follows the major ruling in Epic Games v. Apple that blew up Apple’s control of the App Store, and it seems likely that Epic CEO Tim Sweeney might have something to say about it.
Here’s our coverage from the event.
Some handy new Epic Games Store features.
Pre-loading is coming to Epic’s digital game shop on PC and mobile, and the company also announced that it’s opening up self-publishing for developers and publishers on both iOS and Android. The latter feature should be in place towards the end of 2025.
Epic is making it easier to create MetaHumans
Image: Epic Games
Epic Games’ hyperrealistic MetaHuman characters are seriously impressive, and now the company is making it easier for developers to incorporate them into their projects. At its State of Unreal show on Tuesday, Epic announced that the MetaHuman Creator is now embedded within Unreal Engine as part of Unreal Engine 5.6.
The company is also bringing its face-authoring tools for MetaHumans’ faces to bodies, meaning developers will be able to create faces and bodies with fine-tuned parameters for their games or applications. Developers will be able to sell their MetaHumans on Epic’s Fab marketplace for digital assets, too, so they can be used in other games or projects.
Engine updates.
A big part of the presentation is showing off the latest developments with Unreal Engine 5, and Epic crammed all of those details, including animation improvements and more impressive open worlds, into this short video.
Epic showed off Unreal Engine 5 with an impressive Witcher 4 tech demo
Image: CD Projekt Red
An ongoing tradition at Epic’s big keynotes is a gorgeous tech demo that shows off what its game engine is capable of. For this year’s State of Unreal, the company turned to The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red. This new demo a beautiful glimpse at its fantasy world, filled with blood, fire, and monsters — and more importantly, a new horse.
The demo was built using Unreal Engine 5.6, and shows new protagonist Ciri exploring some forested lands and a marketplace known as Valdrest. Epic says the demo is designed in part to show off how the latest iteration can handle both bustling scenes and foliage in an open-world setting. It also shows how much horse technology has improved since The Witcher 3. Epic says that the demo is running on a base model PS5 at 60 frames per second, with raytracing enabled, and the presentation included a live demonstration, with the developers playing the game on stage. You can check out the full keynote here, just scroll back to the beginning to watch the Witcher 4 segment.
A Ciri-ously good start.
Things kicked off with a beautiful tech demo for The Witcher 4. You can watch the intro here, but it also included an impressive look at the game’s open world, complete with a live on stage gameplay demo.
I’m here at the State of Unreal keynote!
And so is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which was made in Unreal Engine 5. The show starts at 9:30AM ET.
A little reminder.
While there are a lot of technical and business updates, Epic’s keynotes can also be packed with other more interesting news, particularly when it comes to Fortnite and Epic’s digital shop. Check out our rundown from last year’s Unreal Fest in Seattle for a quick refresher.
How to watch Epic’s State of Unreal keynote
There’s a lot going on in gaming this week: Summer Game Fest, an Xbox showcase, and a little console launch from Nintendo. But before it all begins, Fortnite maker Epic Games is hosting its annual State of Unreal event.
Last year, Epic spread a lot of news across two events in San Francisco and Seattle. This year, the focus will be on a keynote in Orlando. While we don’t know exactly what will be shown, you can expect the latest on the company’s major products: Fortnite, the Unreal Engine, and the Epic Game Store. And given Fortnite’s recent return to iPhones, there will probably be some discussion of app stores, as well.
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