Unreal Fest Chicago 2026 had a lot going on, and it's easy to lose track of the announcements. Unreal Engine 5.8 was released as the last major version before Unreal Engine 6, which is expected to bring major pipeline changes, including the deprecation of Blueprints, which has already triggered mixed reactions from developers. The 5.8 release itself also shipped notable upgrades to MetaHuman and released Lore, an open source version control system.

Epic Games outlined its upcoming plans for the Games Store, as you can see in the images shared by LuKaOnIndeed and later circulated on Reddit. These priorities are split into three stages, with the first focused on "storefront rearchitecture" and a private beta for Launcher version 2. Third-party patch notes are also coming, along with cross-region gifting, and adding "chunked installation" for Fortnite.

Later on, the store is expected to get player profiles and avatars, user-written reviews, and improved search. Further down the roadmap, Epic is also planning a multi-platform store.

It's also said that the new Epic Games Launcher will significantly improve performance, with cold start times reportedly up to five times faster on average. Earlier this year, Epic Games Store Vice-President and General Manager Steven Allison openly stated that the Launcher "sucks" and promised improvements were coming.

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