Epic Games Shares 2022 Unreal Engine Growth

Check out the real-time round-up: explore emerging trends in the metaverse and impact on real-time 3D technology; and watch the ‘Virtual Production Sizzle Reel 2022’ to see how Unreal engine, virtual production and in-camera VFX is feeding an explosion of creativity.

Epic Games has released new stats that showcase the expanding adoption of Unreal Engine and the momentum of real-time workflows across industries. Here are some highlights:

Since its release two months ago, the ‘The Matrix Awakens’ demo has been downloaded more than six million times across PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Total downloads for Unreal Engine increased nearly 40% since the end of 2020.
Since MetaHuman Creator’s launch in February, over one million MetaHumans have been created.
48% of announced next-gen games are being built on Unreal Engine.
At The Game Awards 2021, there were 19 Unreal Engine-powered games nominated across 21 categories, and Unreal Engine titles took home nine wins–including Game of the Year.
Unreal Marketplace customers grew by over 50% in 2021.
There were more than 32M Quixel assets downloaded in 2021.

Virtual production and in-camera VFX

In 2020, there were fewer than a dozen in-camera visual effects (ICVFX) stages up and running. Today, Epic is aware of more than 250 ICVFX stages across the globe.
The technologies and workflows that were once the preserve of big studios with multi-million-dollar budgets have become democratized, giving rise to a new wave of content creators.

At one time, using real-time technology in film and television production was considered experimental. Now, it’s being adopted across the entire workflow and used for a multitude of content. Real-time workflows are impacting projects at every stage of the creative lifecycle, from conceptual writing and location scouting to production design and final-frame visual effects.

Watch: Virtual Production Sizzle Reel 2022