Is Unreal Still Committed to Serious Creatives Outside of Games?

existentialog
Wed, 18 Jun 2025 10:21:29 +0000
Feedback & Requests

Hi everyone,

I’m a 3D motion designer with a background in high-end branding and commercial work, mainly using Houdini, Cinema 4D, and Redshift. Over the past few years, I’ve been increasingly drawn to Unreal Engine—not for games, but for design-led applications like immersive installations, motion systems, and digital twin experiences.

Quixel played a big role in that journey. It wasn’t just about the asset library, but the design philosophy behind it. It felt like Unreal was reaching out to creatives beyond the traditional game dev space, building bridges to designers, architects, filmmakers, and spatial thinkers.

Lately though, that message feels less clear.

Bridge has been replaced by Fab, which doesn’t offer the same clean, design-focused workflow. Megascans are now paywalled, making rapid prototyping and creative iteration harder to justify. And the increasing focus on UEFN—possibly even merging with UE6—raises concerns about where Unreal is headed.

Is it becoming more of a casual content platform, rather than a tool for professionals?

I fully understand the importance of growing new creative audiences. But I hope that doesn’t come at the expense of those of us building serious, design-driven pipelines around Unreal.

Unreal still has the potential to become the Figma of real-time 3D: a flexible, professional environment for spatial computing, AR, and design work across industries. But that requires clarity and continued support for these use cases.

Curious to hear from others in the design world—are you seeing this shift too?

Philipp Hartmann
(www.philipphartmann.design)