During the ongoing 2026 Rocket League Championship Paris Major, Epic Games and Psyonix made a major announcement that had been in the works for several weeks, with several pro players and content creators on site alluding to the announcement in recent days.
The future of Rocket League will be on Unreal Engine 6, something that players have been highly anticipating for years. Rocket League was originally developed on Unreal Engine 3, which undoubtedly hindered Psyonix's ability to update the game as regularly as they probably would have liked in recent years.
We've seen a short clip of Rocket League running on UE6 and it looks damn near photorealistic. There's no indication of when it's coming, though, so it may be a ways off.
Unreal Engine 3 doesn't have many of the current features that developers enjoy with modern engines, and it's harder to train new developers on the old engine when they're more familiar with UE5. We've seen teams like Halo Studios and TT Games face similar struggles with legacy engines before finally deciding to switch to Unreal.
While many will certainly be excited about the announcement, there are also some concerns. Players are primarily concerned that the new engine could significantly change the behavior of the game's physics engine. The core feel of Rocket League is intertwined with how the ball reacts when it collides with your own car, and any change to these systems will send a major shockwave through the community.
Still, Epic Games is responsible for both UE3 and UE5, so the chances of a port feeling worse than the original are low. Everyone is looking for the exact same game with shiny new visuals and more content, and Epic seems to be just that.
Paris major storm on
The announcement of Rocket League on UE6 came during the semi-finals of the Paris Major, which is a good time for such a massive announcement considering the event is one of the biggest ever in the game.
The energy in Paris is electric as three of the competing teams, Karmine Corp, Team Vitality and Gentle Mates, are French organizations and have each reached the final six of a major. The fandom of these respective organizations is on full display on the streets of Paris, considered by many to be the spiritual home of Rocket League esports.
With Karmine Corp and Team Vitality facing off in the next semi-final to determine who will face Twisted Minds in the Grand Final, the energy at Paris' La Défense Arena remains frenetic.
rocket league
- Released
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July 7, 2015
- ESRB
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E for Everyone: Mild Texts
- Developers
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Psyonix
- Publishers
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Psyonix
