Lego and Epic Games have announced the arrival of new tools in the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). At GDC 2024, two companies got on stage and announced new opportunities for Fortnite creators, which will allow them to build their own Lego islands, maps and create many more opportunities for player interaction.
Live on the GDC 2024 stage, the companies unveiled that Lego elements, styles, and other brand assets will be available for anyone who has access to UEFN, which serves as an even further extension of Lego Fortnite, which was released in late 2023 to critical acclaim. Now, anyone with access to Fortnite’s map-making tool will be able to create their own UGC map for themselves or their friends.
Published Lego islands, however, will still have to fit the ESRB rationing of E10+ to be accessible to US players and the PEGI rationing of 7 for European audiences. This new technology will come with parental controls and safety features.
Kari Vinther Nielsen, Head of Play & Creator Growth at Lego Game, said, “Today’s announcement is a hugely important step in democratizing creativity and putting the power of the Lego brand into creators’ hands like never before.” She also added, “We want kids and families to be able to enjoy a whole host of fun and engaging play experiences within Fortnite, and the potential this news offers for creators is incredibly exciting – we can’t wait to see what everyone builds and how much the community enjoys the creations.”
As another continuation of the long-lasting partnership between Lego and Epic Games, three more projects were unveiled on GDC: Lego Prop Hunt, Lego Battle Arena, and LegoCat Island Adventure. These three projects join the likes of Lego Raft Survival and Lego Obby Fun, and some of the ideas for them were born out of the childhood memories of Lego Group’s developers.
