Fortnite takes aim at Roblox as Unity and Unreal engines join forces inside Epic’s creator economy

In a surprise moment during Unite, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney walked on stage at an event dedicated to Unity, a competing game engine, to announce a new partnership between the two companies.

The collaboration will allow Unity games to appear inside Fortnite’s discovery system alongside existing Unreal content. Developers will also gain access to Fortnite’s Creator Economy, which already pays out hundreds of millions of dollars to creators every year.

It's a significant move that signals a much broader goal for both companies. It also puts direct pressure on platforms like Roblox and Minecraft, which have their own creator economies but far more restrictive rules.

Can Fortnite’s creator economy really compete with Roblox and Minecraft?

Unity x Epic Games Announcement at Unite Conference - YouTube

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Roblox has set the standard for a closed, creator-driven platform built around user-made games. Its catalogue and monetisation stay locked inside its own ecosystem. Even with that limitation, Roblox has grown to more than 380 million monthly active users (MAU), which puts it above platforms like Steam and not far behind the 500 million MAU tied to Microsoft after its acquisition of Activision, Blizzard, and King.

For context, Minecraft sits at around 200 million MAU. Fortnite averages about 110 million MAU, although it has more than 500 million registered accounts in total. Around 40 percent of Fortnite's monthly net revenue is distributed to creators based on community interaction with creator content.

If Fortnite opens its doors to Unity developers, it begins to mirror Roblox’s model, but with a higher payout for creators. Publishing Unity games directly inside Fortnite also creates an indirect path to reach mobile players without relying on Apple and Google’s payment rules.

Unlike Roblox and Minecraft, which require creators to work inside their own editors, Epic appears to be opening the door for other engines to collaborate in the future. This partnership shows that Unity games can be published inside Fortnite without being rebuilt in Unreal.

Allowing Unity games to run inside Fortnite even though Fortnite is powered by Unreal Engine is impressive in itself. It also gives Unity developers access to Fortnite’s discovery system, which could help surface their games to new audiences. This reach extends across console, PC, and mobile, which provides developers with opportunities to capture audiences they otherwise wouldn’t be able to reach.

Unity has launched a native, cross platform commerce system in October, 2025, built directly into the Unity engine. It gives developers one place to manage their entire digital catalogue, pricing, promotions, and in-app purchases across mobile, PC, and the web without relying on platform-specific tools.

Unity also confirmed that Unreal Engine support is coming to this system. Unreal developers will be able to manage their catalogues, payment providers, web shops, and live operations through the same dashboard, with support expected early next year.

Where Fortnite goes next after opening up to Unity developers

Unity is the first major external engine to be used inside Fortnite, but it does open the door for other engines in the future. Godot is an obvious example, as it is popular with indie developers and could benefit from the same kind of integration if Epic chooses to expand this approach.

With higher payouts and more accessible tools, we could see more than just hobbyists and small teams experimenting inside Fortnite. Larger studios may consider releasing games into the ecosystem as well. The inclusion of Unity also raises the possibility of more standalone-style games entering the platform, which could help close the content gap with Roblox and introduce more complex game types for a wider range of players.

This will not be easy. Fortnite’s discovery system still leaves room for improvement, and it needs to evolve as the catalogue grows. Performance could also become a challenge across the wide range of devices Fortnite supports, especially after its recent release on the Xbox App on PC and support for Xbox Ally devices, which isn't going smoothly. Cross-engine support and cross-platform stability will be critical for this to work at scale and for the partnership to succeed in the long term.

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