Items tagged with Epic Games
In February, we reported on Epic Games and Unreal Engine's MetaHuman tool, which was able to create “Eerily Realistic Human Avatars With A Few Mouse Clicks.” Now, Epic is taking early access requests so developers and creators across a wide variety of industries can get their hands on this wild tech. The MetaHumans website explains that the tech lives in a “cloud-based app that empowers anyone to create photorealistic digital humans, fully rigged and complete with hair and clothing, in minutes.” It is the ultimate culmination of decades of research, development, and technology advancements, allowing real-time high-fidelity character creation. You can see how this all comes...
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Epic Games is a massive company, but we already knew that between their battle against Apple and the ability to throw money to the wind with the Epic Games Store and free games. The behemoth gaming company is still chugging forward, though, with a new $1 billion round of funding and an equity valuation of $28.7 billion. This new round of funding, which was announced on Epic's website today, includes Sony Group Corporation, which invested $200 million. Besides Sony, there were also investments from "Appaloosa, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, GIC, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, funds and accounts...
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Since August of last year, Apple and Epic Games have been duking it out in courtrooms at home and abroad over the App Store fees and Fortnite's removal from the platform. With everything that has happened, it would seem that none of this is random nor a surprise and new reports from Apple indicate as much. Ahead of the trial beginning on May 3rd, Apple has filed several hundred pages of "Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law," which gives some interesting insight into the situation. When Apple launched the App Store back in 2008, some rules and basic principles were set that have not changed much, if at all, in the 13 years that followed. When Epic Games came to challenge this last...
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Apple has recently been called on the carpet by both companies, such as Epic Games, and now regulatory bodies like the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). The ACCC has been diving into Apple's App Store dominance on the iOS ecosystem, but Apple believes there are other options than its services, like just using the web, to get access to apps. In September of last year, the ACCC established an inquiry into digital platforms and app stores to examine data sharing, competition, and pricing transparency. The commission reports that this will be a five-year inquiry with new reports every six months examining "markets for the supply of digital platform services in Australia."...
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Perhaps Epic Games made a slight mistake, or the release date has changed, but the Fortnite Season 6 Week 2 challenges are live two days earlier than normal. Players can get out and complete these challenges to gain a healthy 24,000 XP for their accounts. Of the new challenges, perhaps the easiest is collecting literature samples from Pleasant Park, Lazy Lake, or Retail Row. Players only need to collect four of the five scattered between the three locations to complete the challenge. Below, you will find a map with stars that mark the rough place you can find book or magazine shelves to interact with to collect the literature. It is quite possible that these challenges are not meant to be...
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All that hissing and clawing you hear is not the neighborhood cats going at it, but Apple and Epic Games tussling with one another in a court of law. Well, their respective legal teams, anyway. The fight over Apple's App Store payment policies and Epic Games trying to sidestep them continues, and as far as Apple is concerned, Epic Games is embarking on a "self-serving" path with one of its lawsuit. All of this legal arm wrestling has to do with Epic Games suddenly deciding it did not want to continue paying Apple a royalty on in-app purchases, primarily as they related to Fortnite, a hugely popular game that generates a ton of revenue. So one day Epic Games updated its Fortnite app on iOS to...
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In November, Apple announced that it would reduce its App Store fees to 15 percent for the first $1 million in yearly revenue for developers following pressure from Epic Games. Like Apple before its policy change, Google took a 30 percent cut of digital goods sold through its app marketplace. Today, Google announced that it would take the same approach as Apple with lower fees in the Play Store. Starting on July 1st, "99% of developers globally that sell digital goods and services with Play will see a 50% reduction in fees," said Sameer Samat, Google VP for Product Management. "These are funds that can help developers scale up at a critical phase of their growth by hiring...
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Today officially kicks off Fortnite Season 6 Chapter 2. The new season picks off right after the explosive conclusion of Season 5. Fortnite Season 6 Chapter 2 features a new biome, weapons, and crafting abilities that encourage players to "run wild." Here is where we are in the current Fortnite storyline -- Agent Jones and The Foundation were able to seal the “Zero Point” in a stone tower. However, the Zero Point sent a “mysterious pulse” throughout the Island as it was being contained. This pulse eliminated all signs of technology and reality has subsequently collapsed. Players will initially be greeted by a new mission dubbed “Zero Crisis Finale” after...
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As a general rule of thumb, perhaps it is best not to tweet vile things at other people as it could have extreme consequences. A Fortnite team has seemingly learned this the hard way as one of their players had some harsh words about Epic Games Creative Director and Fortnite director Donald Mustard. Subsequently, the team was booted from the ongoing Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS) tournament. The tweet, which came from Fortnite player Wrigley, whose account is now deactivated, said, “Like literally f**king k!ll your$elf @DonaldMustard." Afterward, fellow teammate @DlCTATING on Twitter shared what appeared to be an email from event admins explaining that the team was disqualified and removed...
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The last time we visited Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout was back in September. At that time, the developer behind the game, Mediatonic, dealt with rampant cheating in the game. The company's solution was to add the anti-cheat system used by Epic Games' smash hit Fortnite. Today, we're learning that the link between Fortnite and Fall Guys is about to get a lot stronger. Epic Games is acquiring the Tonic Games Group, which includes Mediatonic and Fortitude Games. But before you decry the fact that this is yet another case of a big fish gobbling up a promising small fish, Epic says that fans of the game should not be alarmed. "Your gameplay isn't changing, and Epic will continue to invest...
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Last month, Epic Games brought some sweet 1980s nostalgia to Fortnite with the arrival of a Terminatorcrossover complete with the T-800 and Sarah Connor. Now, Fortnite is back with an accurate portrayal of another kickass female lead in science fiction: Ellen Ripley. But just as Sarah Connor came paired up with T-800, Ripley is joined by her nemesis: a "get away from her, you b*tch" Xenomorph. There's no word on whether its acid for blood is portrayed in the game, but I know that the hordes of Xenomorphs from Aliens haunted my dreams as a kid (probably because of the lightning-fast and piercing inner mouth). Ripley, looking quite like the incomparable Sigourney Weaver, comes...
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Last week, Apple attempted to drag Valve into the legal standoff with Epic Games by requesting a large quantity of data from the PC games creator and seller. While this request appeared out of place, the subpoena seems to have worked, as a judge has told Valve Corp. to hand over certain data from the request. During a Zoom court hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixon ordered Valve to produce “aggregate historical sales, pricing and other data on 436 games sold on the virtual game store Steam,” according to Law360. This is significantly less than the original request for information on every Steam game dating back to 2015. Thankfully, the judge saw the flaws in this request...
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While the Fortnite battle continues, now internationally, Apple is attempting to gather ammunition for the courtroom showdown sometime in the future. A court filing from this week reports that Apple subpoenaed Valve Software in November 2020, "simply requesting" Valve’s revenues and the name, price, and availability of every product on Steam to show competition. That is one tall order, and it appears that Valve is not playing ball. In short, Apple believes data from Valve could bolster its legal position against Epic Games, and subsequently requested a plethora of data. According to the record [PDF], in “Request 2,” Apple wanted documents “sufficient” to show...
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Though the Epic Games spat with Apple quieted down some, that does not mean the war is over. We are slowly creeping toward the May court date, where the two companies will face off before a judge. In the meantime, Epic Games is taking the battle across the pond after filing an antitrust complaint against Apple in the European Union. Epic Games published a blog called Europe Free Fortnite today, sparking a movement in efforts to “advance fairer digital platform practices for developers and consumers.” The complaint filed with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition alleges “anti-competitive restrictions” imposed by Apple. In the complaint, Epic...
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Most everyone knows the original, incredibly angular Lara Croft of the incredibly popular Tomb Raider series. Since its release nearly 25 years ago, human 3D models and animations have improved vastly. We may be on the cusp of the next step up in human 3D models and animation once more, though, as Epic Games has unveiled a project called MetaHumans using its Unreal Engine. Earlier today, we saw a wild sneak peek into what MetaHumans are on the Unreal Engine website and YouTube channel. The store page for the project samples claims that it can create “high-fidelity digital humans generated by the MetaHuman Creator for use in Unreal Engine.” You can watch the video below to see...
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Back in late December, Metro: Last Light Redux was offered up as a free game download from the GOG Store. It was only available for 48 hours, so if you weren't quick enough, it's quite possible that you missed out on that hot deal. Thankfully, the Epic Games Store is giving you a second chance to grab Metro: Last Light Redux for the low, low price of free. As we talked about before, Metro: Last Light Redux is a post-apocalyptic shooter set in Moscow during the year 2034. The game was originally released in mid-2015, but it still provides an exciting and immersive gaming experience. You'll be able to game along at 60fps, and the Redux version includes all previously-released downloadable...
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Epic Games seems to have quite a bit in store for the popular battle royale game, Fortnite, which now has many different characters involved. The company has now officially announced a limited-time event with The Mandalorian. Also, according to new leaks, the list of characters in the Fortnite universe could grow this season with a crossover event possibly featuring Five Nights At Freddy’s characters. Five Nights At Freddy’s Fortnite Crossover Event Behind the leaks is data miner and prolific Fortnite leaker HypeX on Twitter, who has been working quite a bit recently. The first piece of interesting data found is an encrypted skin within Fortnite named “FrenchFry.” HypeX...
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Are you looking to get a cool 20,000 BattlePass XP in Fortnite for next to no work? Look no further than the Season 5 Week 9 Epic Games challenge of visiting a mysterious bunker. Finding any of the three bunkers spread evenly across the map should not be a challenge at all if you know where to look. Thus, we are sharing the locations of each with you, so the task is quite simple. Now, where are we dropping? If you want to go off and do the challenges all by yourself, that is perfectly fine. We have put together a map, so you know roughly where to go at least, though. Remember, when you drop, these locations may be contested, so keep your head on a swivel and get in and out fast. The three locations...
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Fortnite is famous for its crossover events, which brings widely popular characters from pop culture into the game for a limited (or sometimes, extended) period of time. We've seen events that have centered around the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars (i.e. The Mandalorian), Stranger Things, and even John Wick. Heck, even Master Chief has made an appearance. Now, Epic Games is teasing a potential crossover with another popular film franchise: The Terminator. Speculation is mounting given that Epic posted a rather ominous teaser this morning with the description "Targets Description: A ruthless machine and a protector of the future". The video simply shows a satellite in the...
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Early in December last year, Epic Games added the Mandalorian to Fortnite in the form of a skin. You cannot go without Grogu (Baby Yoda) when you have The Mandalorian, though, so he was added as a “back bling” at level 100. Now that players are finally starting to hit that level, they are noticing an issue with Grogu where they cannot see when they shoot. Either Grogu is a staunch pacifist and is stopping aiming, or this is a disappointing glitch for fans of The Mandalorian and Fortnite. Whatever is happening with Grogu is quite problematic for players. The bug appears when users reportedly crouch or exit vehicles. After that happens, Grogu’s floating egg seems to be attached...
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Epic Games is an incredibly influential force in the gaming industry with its Unreal Engine (which is used in a wide range of games) and its own popular games like Fortnite. Its Unreal Engine is even used in the production of mega-hit TV shows like The Mandalorian. The company was founded in 1991, and has long been headquartered in Cary, North Carolina. However, even after expanding its HQ multiple times over the past three decades to accommodate its growing influence in the gaming/entertainment industries and workforce, the company is running out of physical space to expand. Needless to say, Epic has been looking for other alternatives in the area, and a prime opportunity...
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Are you ready to get in on some dinosaur action? Epic Games is offering the Jurassic World Evolution for free as part of its 15 days of game giveaways so you can help life... uhhh... find a way. Now, do you want to start humming the Jurassic Park theme song, or should I? Released earlier in 2020, Jurassic World Evolution fantastic looking game where players can “take charge of operations on the legendary islands of the Muertes archipelago and bring the wonder, majesty and danger of dinosaurs to life.” Players can become something of a scientist by bioengineering dinosaurs however they want. Through this, players can give the “dinosaurs unique behaviors, traits and...
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