Rocket League offers a first glimpse at Epic Games' Unreal Engine 6

Epic Games has revealed Unreal Engine 6 with a trailer featuring an updated version of Rocket League. Given how ubiquitous Unreal Engine 5 has become, this announcement is a big deal for the video game industry.

This weekend, Epic Games hosted the 2026 Rocket League Paris Major and showcased what it's touting as a "new era of Rocket League." The short teaser features real-time in-game footage with more detailed car models and dynamic lighting reflections than the current game. It ends by revealing a purple logo for Unreal Engine 6.

While Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney teased the new engine in a 2025 interview, this is the first time we've publicly seen Unreal Engine 6 in action. An image briefly shown in the teaser also suggests that Fortnite will receive Unreal Engine 6 support. That makes sense, as Fortnite is Epic Games' flagship title and serves as a platform for other games. As of now, that's about all we know about the updated version of Rocket League and Unreal Engine 6, as even the official Unreal Engine X account hasn't acknowledged the announcement at the time of publishing.

Regardless, the reveal and eventual launch of Unreal Engine 6 will have ramifications for the video game industry. Many high-profile games already utilize Unreal Engine 5, including Black Myth: Wukong, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and the recently released Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. Upcoming games like The Witcher 4 and Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra are also confirmed to use Unreal Engine 5, although the announcement of its successor raises the question of whether those games will upgrade.

Unreal Engine 5 entered early access around a year after its initial reveal, and received a wide release a year after that, so it's possible that Unreal Engine 6 could follow a similar timeline. We'll just have to wait to learn more about Unreal Engine 6 from Epic Games to better understand what improvements the next iteration of this game engine will bring.