For the first time, Unity demonstrates 'an Unreal character running through a Unity world'

Unity senior director of technical product management James Stone speaking at Unite 2026.
(Image credit: Unity)

Unity has demonstrated a Unity Engine game running inside of an Unreal Engine game, marking a step in the direction of Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney's vision for an interconnected gaming ecosystem.

The demonstration took place this week at the Unite Seoul keynote, where Unity also announced the next version of its game engine. Unity's goal with the project, in partnership with Epic, is to allow Unity developers to publish their games in Fortnite.

"You will see, for the first time, a Unity game rendering natively inside Unreal Engine," said Unity senior director of technical product management James Stone as he launched the demo. "Now this is not live in Fortnite yet, but it shows what's possible for a shared foundation.

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"What you're seeing here is a game simulated in Unity, rendered with Unreal. Now, that's not video streamed, there's no smoke and mirrors. This is all real time. But it's not just rendering. Watch the avatar. That's an Unreal character running through a Unity world. That's physics, lighting, input: all of it synchronized between engines."

"Connect ALL the engines!" Sweeney exclaimed on social media in response to the demo.

The Unity partnership represents one of many avenues through which Sweeney and Epic are pursuing a future that connects content, economies, and social features across platforms and games—"the metaverse," for short. Sweeney discussed the effort in a recent conversation with PC Gamer, saying that the industry "should come to the realization that the value of connecting is higher for everybody than remaining separate."

Unity's new Fortnite integration will be available in early access in 2027. Unity 7, the next version of the engine, is also coming next year. Unity 7 promises new rendering, monetization, and collaboration features, as well as a protocol for connecting generative AI coding agents.

Tyler Wilde
Editor-in-Chief, US

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.

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