Fortnite Creative 2.0 is apparently set to go live today, bringing the Unreal Editor for Fortnite to the game. That means players will soon be able to harness the power of Unreal Engine 5 in all of their Fortnite Creative endeavours.
Update [22/03/23]: Fortnite UEFN is live and you can download it now
We've been waiting on the Fortnite UEFN update for a while now. First announced for PC in May, 2022, Unreal Editor for Fortnite was supposed to launch later that same year, but was delayed to January 2023 before being pushed back once again to a March 2023 window.
Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney has talked up the power of Unreal Engine 5 and the content it'll let players create, telling Fast Company that Unreal Editor for Fortnite will allow to "build very high-quality game content and code... and deploy it into Fortnite without having to do a deal with [Epic Games] –it’s open to everybody."
It all sounds incredibly exciting for both content creators and the Fortnite players out there who like trawl through and experience others' creations. Sweeney says that "about half of Fortnite play time by users is now in content created by others, and half is in Epic content" so once the floodgates are opened, it'll be a veritable smörgåsbord of player-made content.
If you're itching to get your hands on the Fortnite Creative 2.0 update, here's everything you need to know about UEFN for Fortnite.
Fortnite Creative 2.0 UEFN: release time
There's no official word on the Fortnite Creative 2.0 UEFN release time yet, but our best bet is that it's going live today at 5.30pm GMT / 1.30pm EST / 10.30am PST. This is based on the State of Unreal livestream that Epic has set up for this afternoon, which is set to wrap up around then. The aptly names Twitter user @Creeeper_ has been creeping around in the code for Unreal Editor for Fortnite page, digging out a time that lines up with when the stream ends and Fortnite UEFN goes live, at 5.30pm GMT / 1.30pm EST / 10.30am PST.
Additionally, Ninja appears to have let slip the time, backing this up, on a clipped stream that was shared on Twitter. So all signs point to Fornite Creative 2.0 UEFN release time being 5.30pm GMT / 1.30pm EST / 10.30am PST.
It's worth noting that there's been a bit of a back and forth on the exact time of the Fortnite Creative UEFN release, as there always is with unconfirmed information. It's being speculated to fall anywhere between 4pm GMT / 12pm EST / 9am PST and 5.30pm GMT / 1.30pm EST / 10.30am PST. Reputable Twitter leaker @ShiinaBR took to the platform yesterday to say that we were exactly 24 hours out from the Fortnite UEFN release, making it the earlier 4pm GMT / 12pm EST / 9am PST slot.
The State of Unreal livestream kicks off at 4.15pm GMT / 12.15pm EST / 9.15am PST leading some people to think that Fortnite Creative 2.0 will go live at the same time, but we're hedging our bets and going with @Creeeper_ on this one..
Fortnite Creative 2.0 UEFN: console release
Unreal Editor is coming to Fortnite Creative 2.0 on PC, but what about consoles? In a tweet last month, Sweeney confirmed that "Unreal Editor for Fortnite runs on PC only. It can be used to build content that runs on all platforms. Fortnite Creative continues to work on all platforms but it doesn’t contain the Unreal Editor."
While we're expecting some improvements and changes for Fortnite Creative 2.0 on console, Unreal Editor is solely the purview of PC for now. The exact nature of the console Creative 2.0 update will be shared once the patch notes go live, so we'll have to wait and see. In terms of how console will incorporate Fortnite UEFN, Sweeney explained back in January that "verse scripts are edited using the UEFN editor on PC and the scripts you make work in Fortnite on all platforms users play on.
"Later we will bring script editing to Creative Mode on all platforms (plug in a keyboard to type) but that’s not in the first 6 months of release." So we're looking at September for Fortnite script editing to roll out, but UEFN will remain exclusive to PC. This could be one of the features that @ShiinaBR was referring to last November.
They say that a Fortnite Creative ambassador told them that 'limited' versions of the Creative 2.0 UEFN tools will make their way to console versions, with PC players getting the most advanced versions.
