It barely feels like yesterday Epic was showing off Unreal Engine 5 with a bit of Tomb Raider-esque temple bothering, but here we are again. Half a decade later, it’s time to get the Unreal Engine 6 ball rolling – which Epic did this weekend in relatively muted fashion, appending word of its impending arrival in a trailer for a new-look Rocket League.
Developer Psyonix’s free-to-play four-wheeled footie game (now owned by Epic following the studio’s acquisition in 2019) has been tethered to the decidedly old-school Unre al Engine 3 since its debut over a decade ago, meaning a Rocket League refresh is long overdue. Psyonix teased an engine refresh previously, saying it was making the jump to UE5 back in 2021, but plans have clearly changed since then.
Word of Rocket League’s Unreal Engine 6 makeover came via a minute-long trailer shared at the game’s Championship Series Paris Major over the weekend. Beginning with a message proclaiming all footage within the trailer was “captured real-time in game”, it went on to display a cinematic pan across a gleaming stadium before thrusting an equally shiny vehicle into the action.
“New era, new engine,” some on-screen text intoned, before whizzing through a series of sleek car visuals to wrap up the “in game” bit of proceedings. And after that? A glimpse at the Unreal Engine 6 logo, as well as a brief animation slotting Rocket League in with Epic’s other projects, from Fortnite to its multi-year $1.5bn partnership with Disney – the latter reportedly including an Arc-Raiders-like Star Wars shooter. It’s not a huge amount to go on then, but I’d assume Rocket League fans are, at the very least, happy to hear Psyonix hasn’t abandoned its engine upgrade plans.
The question, then, is how long can we expect to wait for Rocket League’s long-in-the-works upgrade? Psyonix hasn’t yet said, but with Microsoft already talking about an Xbox Series X/S successor and various PlayStation 6-related reports continuing to swirl, it seems likely Epic will – if nothing else – be wanting to talk about its new engine relatively soon. And next month’s Unreal Fest seems as good an opportunity for that as any.