Epic Games uses Rocket League to tease next-gen Unreal Engine 6 tech

Epic Games has officially revealed Unreal Engine 6 during the Rocket League Championship Series Paris Major, confirming months of speculation surrounding the company’s next-generation game engine. The announcement also revealed that Rocket League will become the first title to transition to the new engine, marking a major shift for the long-running multiplayer game after spending more than a decade on Unreal Engine 3.

Epic showcased an early teaser featuring Rocket League running on Unreal Engine 6, offering a first look at the upgraded visuals and technology. While the footage was brief, it highlighted noticeable improvements and signaled the beginning of a major technical overhaul for the popular competitive title.

Despite the reveal, Epic has not shared a release date for Unreal Engine 6 or detailed what new features developers can expect. Looking back at previous engine launches, Unreal Engine 5 was unveiled in 2020 before entering early access in 2021 and eventually receiving a full release in 2022. If Epic follows a similar rollout schedule, UE6 may take another year or two before seeing widespread adoption across the industry.

Even with mixed opinions surrounding Unreal Engine 5’s optimization in some games, it still became one of the most popular engines in modern game development. Recent UE5-powered releases include Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, while upcoming projects like The Witcher 4 are also expected to use the technology.

The reveal of Unreal Engine 6 has already sparked speculation about whether current UE5 projects could eventually transition to the newer engine. CD Projekt Red is one of the studios many players are watching closely, especially given the company’s ongoing collaboration with Epic Games.

For now, Rocket League appears to be Epic’s primary showcase for UE6. Based on the company’s previous release strategy, the upgraded version of Rocket League could potentially arrive sometime in 2026 before the engine becomes more broadly available to developers and studios worldwide. Fortnite is also expected to eventually receive support for Unreal Engine 6 as Epic begins transitioning its own major titles to the new platform.

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