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Epic’s State of Unreal keynote at Unreal Fest 2025 in Orlando, held on June 3, 2025, led with Unreal Engine 5.6 and a technology demo made with CD PROJEKT RED. The rest of the keynote covered MetaHuman 5.6, a large set of Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) and Verse creator features, RealityScan 2.0, Fab coming to the Epic Games launcher, and new figures for the Epic Games Store. Some items were available at the time of the show. Many others were plans with dates, and this article keeps the two apart.
This is a retrospective of what Epic said in June 2025. It does not track whether each plan shipped on schedule, so check Epic’s own channels for current status.
Unreal Engine 5.6 and the Witcher technology demo
The keynote opened with a demonstration built with CD PROJEKT RED. Epic was explicit about what it was showing. In its official State of Unreal 2025 recap, the company wrote: “The show kicked off with a technical demo we’ve been working on with CD PROJEKT RED — not The Witcher 4 itself, but a showcase of some of the cutting-edge tech powering the new Witcher saga.” The demo follows Ciri in Kovir and was presented as a showcase of Unreal Engine 5.6 open-world features, not a look at Witcher 4 gameplay.
Epic said the demo ran on PlayStation 5 at 60 frames per second with ray tracing enabled. Those performance figures describe this demo only. Epic did not present them as a guarantee for other projects. The features it highlighted were:
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- Fast Geometry Streaming, for streaming large amounts of world geometry.
- ML Deformer, for machine-learning-driven deformation of animated characters.
- Nanite Foliage, which Epic said was then slated for Unreal Engine 5.7 rather than 5.6.
Epic said Unreal Engine 5.6 was available at the time of the keynote. Its stated focus was large open-world performance, an engine-first animation and rigging workflow, and in-engine MetaHuman authoring. Epic also described smooth 60 fps operation on current-generation consoles, high-end PCs and modern mobile devices as a goal. That is a stated aim, not a promise that every project will reach it.
MetaHuman 5.6
Epic said MetaHuman 5.6 had left Early Access and was now embedded in Unreal Engine. The update included:
- Updated materials and a larger scan database, along with improved scan processing.
- Expanded authoring options for faces, bodies and clothing.
- MetaHuman Animator, which drives real-time animation from a camera or audio.
- DCC plugins and Fab integration.
Epic also said its updated Unreal Engine EULA allowed MetaHuman characters and animation to be used in other engines and creative software, naming Unity, Godot, Maya, Houdini and Blender. These are Epic’s statements about its release and licensing terms. Anyone with a project-specific question should read the license text itself rather than rely on a summary of it.
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UEFN, Verse and Fortnite creator tools
The UEFN portion of the keynote was the largest block of announcements, and it mixed tools available at the time with features still in development.
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Scene Graph and Verse
The Scene Graph beta was described as a hierarchical way to organize scene entities, build reusable prefabs and let Verse modify the scene at runtime. Epic’s creator post said this could in many cases let creators use Verse in place of Fortnite devices for interactions and gameplay. Epic called Scene Graph foundational for future UEFN capabilities. The beta’s launch date appears in the schedule table below.
Epic Developer Assistant and Persona Device
The Epic Developer Assistant was announced as available in beta on the Epic Developer Community. Epic designed it to help with Verse code, answer workflow questions and offer code snippets.
Epic also previewed a Persona Device and future AI-powered NPC creation tools. These were drawn from the company’s conversational AI experience with the Darth Vader character in Fortnite. Epic described the creator NPC tools as coming later in 2025, not as generally available at the keynote.
Licensed content
Epic announced LEGO brick-by-brick building in UEFN and a LEGO Bloom Tycoon template. It also said Squid Game content was timed to the series finale, with publishing to follow later in the summer. Avatar: The Last Airbender and Star Wars creator features were previewed without full detail. Epic’s creator post said Avatar was expected the following year and that more Star Wars details would come later. The dates for these items are in the schedule table below.
General Physics and creator analytics
Epic said a General Physics beta would allow publication of Fortnite islands built with the feature. The Fortnite Data API was also set to expand to include engagement and retention metrics for creator islands. Epic said it would make how Discover works more transparent through documentation.
RealityScan 2.0 and Fab
Epic announced RealityScan 2.0 for the coming weeks. It highlighted AI-powered masking, smarter image alignment and support for airborne laser scans. Epic said CD PROJEKT RED used RealityScan to capture natural objects for the technology demo.
Epic also said Fab would be integrated into the Epic Games launcher that summer. It said Loci’s AI technology would improve asset tagging, semantic search and IP moderation. These were roadmap statements from June 2025. Their rollout status is not confirmed here.
Epic Games Store and Epic’s figures
Epic used the keynote to report figures about its own platforms. Each one is Epic’s own statement, and none is independently verified in this article.
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- 11.2 billion hours across 260,000 live creator-made islands, according to Epic’s 2025 recap.
- $722 million paid to third-party creators, according to Epic’s 2025 recap.
- More than $2.1 billion paid to Epic Games Store developer and publisher partners since launch, according to Epic’s 2025 recap.
- 70 mobile games and 40 million installs to date, with a target of 70 million installs by the end of 2025.
Store revenue share
Epic announced a 0% initial revenue share on the first $1 million a developer earns, then 12% thereafter. These are the terms Epic described at the keynote, and developers should confirm current terms in Epic’s store documentation.
Mobile, web shops and Netmarble
Epic outlined several store features: preloading, gifting, mobile self-publishing, Epic Web Shops and cross-platform social features. It also said Netmarble’s MONGIL: STAR DIVE would be a PC exclusive through Epic First Run. Treat the timing of each as a plan stated at the event, not confirmed delivery.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Dated plans from the keynote
The table lists every dated or dated-window item Epic gave at the keynote, grouped by area. A “stated” date is Epic’s June 2025 wording and is not a confirmation that the item launched.
Quick Recap
| Item | Area | Timing Epic stated in June 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Scene Graph beta | UEFN and Verse | Launch on June 7, 2025 |
| Fortnite Data API expansion (engagement and retention metrics) | Creator analytics | June 9, 2025 |
| LEGO brick-by-brick building in UEFN | Licensed content | June 17, 2025 |
| Squid Game content | Licensed content | June 27, 2025, timed to the series finale; publishing later in summer |
| General Physics beta (publishing Fortnite islands) | UEFN | Q3 2025 |
| AI-powered NPC creation tools | UEFN | Later in 2025 |
| Avatar: The Last Airbender creator features | Licensed content | Expected the year after 2025, per Epic’s creator post (2026) |
| Star Wars creator features | Licensed content | No date stated; more details promised later |
| RealityScan 2.0 | Capture tools | “Coming weeks” from June 2025 |
| Fab integration in the Epic Games launcher | Ecosystem | That summer (2025) |
| Epic Web Shops | Epic Games Store | July 2025 |
| Mobile self-publishing | Epic Games Store | Q3 2025 |
| Preloading | Epic Games Store | September 2025 |
| Gifting | Epic Games Store | Holiday period 2025 |
| Cross-platform social features | Epic Games Store | Not stated |
| MONGIL: STAR DIVE (PC exclusive, Epic First Run) | Epic Games Store | Second half of 2025 |
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