Epic Games announced a slew of new user numbers and milestones, including the fact that the Epic Games launcher had topped 500 million accounts as of January 2022. Across the Store, Fortnite, and Rocket League, there are almost 2.7 billion ‘friend connections.’ Epic also saw a 40 per cent increase in Unreal Engine downloads in 2021. Over a million MetaHumans were produced using the free cloud-based programme last month.
Sketchfab (bought by Epic Games in July 2021) also recently surpassed the seven-million-member mark. Quixel assets are also quite popular among producers; according to Epic, the Swedish firm (which was bought in late 2019 to access the world’s most extensive photogrammetry library) had 32 million downloads in 2021.
Customers on the Unreal Marketplace increased by 50% last year. If you’re curious, the Modular Lost Ruins Kit, Defect Ultimate Props Bundle Vol.1, Stylized Forest, Underground Subway, and the Action RPG Multiplayer Starter Template were the top five most downloaded assets in 2021.
Unreal Engine downloads grew by +40% as Epic Games Celebrates 500 Million Accounts
According to Epic, unreal Engine is used in 48 percent of announced next-gen games. Of course, Unreal Engine 4 still accounts for most of this, as numerous developers are hesitant to migrate to Unreal Engine 5. STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl, Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and Black Myth: Wukong are the first Unreal Engine 5 games to be released.
Meanwhile, Epic was delighted to announce that their The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience tech demo for next-generation consoles had received over six million downloads as of February 2022.
Film and television are other sectors where the Unreal Engine is gaining traction. Compared to 2020, Epic stated there were 1.5 times more film/TV productions in the works utilising Unreal Engine last year. Jungle Cruise, The Suicide Squad, Free Guy, Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Dune, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and The Matrix Resurrections all used Unreal Engine in some manner.
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