Psyonix, a development studio under the Epic Games umbrella, just posted a teaser of an updated version of Rocket League that they've been working on. Though it isn't the long-awaited Unreal Engine 5 updated that fans had wanted, it is instead a version of the game running on Unreal Engine 6.
This very surprise announcement of Unreal Engine 6 was not accompanied by the usual big technical showcase from Epic Games. In fact, the Unreal Engine 6 reveal came during a rather unlikely event. That being the 2026 Rocket League Paris Major.
The short teaser announcement showed what is claimed to be real-time in-game footage. The car models are far more detailed than their current Unreal Engine 3 counterparts. There is now also better dynamic lighting and reflections than the current game. The teaser reveal ends with a look at the purple logo for Unreal Engine 6.
Also included in the teaser reveal were images associated with Fortnite, another title developed by Epic Games. This could suggest that Rocket League will be integrated into Fortnite where "Fortnite" now acts as a game launch hub where Rocket League on Unreal Engine 6 will need to be launched from. It's either that or it's just a confirmation from Epic that yes, Fortnite is also moving to Unreal Engine 6 too.
We know basically nothing about Unreal Engine 6. We don't know when it will debut, what features it includes over Unreal Engine 5, or what hardware will be needed to run it. It's suggested that Unreal Engine 6 won't debut until at least 2027, with wider adoption possibly starting to show in 2028.
We also do not know if it addresses the issues that plague basically every Unreal Engine 5 game, up to and including poor CPU utilization and traversal stutters. We also do not know right now just how much the minimum requirements for Rocket League will jump up given that it will have to make the jump from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 6 in the near future.
Fingers crossed that Unreal Engine 6 doesn't continue the trend of poor performance and stuttering even on top of the line hardware. This is especially important given how nobody is going to be able to afford any hardware upgrades for quite some time yet.
