Rocket League Set for Unreal Engine 6 Transition, Epic Games Confirms

The announcement had been anticipated throughout the entire weekend. After multiple teasers, Epic Games unveiled a major change for Rocket League this Saturday between the two semi-finals of the Paris Major. In fact, the game is expected to be ported to Unreal Engine 6 in the future—a new version of the North American publisher’s famous game engine—even though it has never been ported to the fifth version. No dates have yet been announced

In addition to Rocket League, the short trailer also hinted at the possibility of an even stronger connection with Fortnite and its various game modes. In an interview on the Lex Fridman Podcast released in 2025, Tim Sweeney explained regarding UE6 that “we could be seeing preview versions of it perhaps 2 to 3 years from now.” Based on that statement, it is therefore difficult to imagine the new engine being implemented by late 2026 or early 2027.

Having been informed only a few hours before the reveal, some players and content creators appeared pleasantly stunned by the news. Often critical of a scene that has suffered heavily in recent years from the decisions — or lack thereof — made by its publisher, Victor "Ferra" Francal, Karmine Corp organization’s member, was among the personalities who helped build anticipation ahead of the announcement. “Optimistic about the future,” the coach wrote on X this Saturday.

Unsurprisingly, the excitement surrounding this major change had fuelled a wide range of rumours. Many observers expected a transition to Unreal Engine 5, which was supposed to modernise the game’s graphics, but finally, this upgrade will be on Unreal Engine 6. That particular rumour was by far the most widespread, and several insiders even used it to mislead the public by presenting it as confirmed information. Other potential changes, such as the introduction of creator codes or the return of trading, were also regularly mentioned.

This development, broadly perceived as positive, therefore comes amid renewed involvement by Epic Games regarding the future of the title. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the scene — with players at the forefront — has repeatedly sounded the alarm to preserve an ecosystem that many felt had gradually been neglected. The latest grievance raised by professional players concerned the growing number of cheaters infiltrating high-level ranked lobbies, significantly complicating practice conditions.

Axel “Vatira” Touret had notably published a message that was widely shared across the scene. “The state of the game is dramatic. […] You know where I’m going with this: bots and DDoS attacks. We’ve had to create Discord servers just to try to play competitively, but that’s not a miracle solution. […] The issue is that the overall level of players is declining, and our playtime has effectively been cut in half, if not by two-thirds. Epic Games, do something immediately.”

One month later, at the end of April, Epic released an update that appears to have significantly improved the ranked experience. That patch now seems to have been merely the first step in a broader rebuilding process for a scene which, after once appearing close to collapse, now seems considerably more stable.