Fortnite could be shifting to Unreal Engine 5.4 soon

Fortnite and Epic Games' Unreal Engine have always gone hand-in-hand, with UE firmly establishing itself as an industry standard for game development. Over the years, the company has brought a ton of changes and upgrades to the Unreal Engine, which have either stemmed from FN or have largely impacted it.

Now, with the launch of EPIC's Unreal Engine 5.4, it's likely that Fortnite will soon be running on this new and upgraded version of UE. This article will talk about how this decision would impact the game on an overall level.

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Fortnite's move to Unreal Engine 5.4 could bring a lot of improvements

According to an Unreal Engine blog post published by Epic Games, the 5.4 version of the engine will improve a lot of factors in Fortnite. This includes its animation, AI and machine learning, as well as overall performance. PeQu (@ImPeQu on X), a member of Team Geerzy, the group behind popular Creative FN maps like The Pit, took to X to highlight how UE 5.4 could impact the game.

The move to Unreal Engine 5.4 will improve the overall look of the game and should also enhance this title's performance, an aspect that not everyone is particularly impressed with even today. Since Epic Games has designed UE 5.4 with 60 Hz experiences in mind, the game should receive a significant boost in its performance.

Not only that, in the blog, the developer also highlighted that this new version will improve upon shader compilation, which not only allows for better performance but also notably cuts down on the time it takes to render a project.

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When could Fortnite move to Unreal Engine 5.4?

Before answering the question of when this potential change could take place, it is important to remember that nothing is official until Epic Games says so. Now, considering this developer likes to use Fortnite as a testing ground for its new and improved offerings, it is fair to assume the move to UE 5.4 is bound to happen sooner or later.

Since this would be a big step, it is possible that the change will come around the beginning of Chapter 5 Season 4 or Chapter 5 Season 5, which is rumored to bring back the OG mode, along with the Chapter 2 map.

If that doesn't happen, FN could start using UE 5.4 at the launch of Chapter 6, allowing players to jump onto a brand-new map and experience improved graphics and enhanced performance.