Unreal Engine 5 is making inroads in cross-platform mobile games

• Unreal Engine was recently awarded Best Game Engine at the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards.
• Everything the developer needs - out of the box.
• Mobile tools battle-tested in Fortnite Battle Royale.
• Cross-platform support for mobile, PC, and console.

With mobile hardware becoming increasingly powerful as each year passes, we’re starting to see more and more triple-A-quality games come to handheld devices.

Many of those games are being built on Unreal Engine, with developers drawn to the platform’s best-in-class graphics and cross-platform support.

The team at Epic Games has been slowly building out a solid toolset for mobile development, with features for realistic mobile lighting like D-buffer decals, volumetric fog, and capsule shadows, and more. 

That hard work has paid off, with Unreal Engine recently awarded Best Game Engine for mobile development by PocketGamer.biz.

This article will explore why developers are turning to UE for cross-platform mobile games in their droves, and look at some of the studios that are seeing success with the engine.

A powerful toolkit for developing mobile games

With triple-A now a reality on mobile hardware, developers have the opportunity to dream big and reach the largest and fastest-growing segment in gaming. To do their ideas justice, however, they need creative tools with the power to match the new generation of mobile hardware for visual fidelity and performance. 

Unreal Engine provides complete C++ source code along with advanced graphics and platform optimisation tools, enabling developers to build and scale triple-A high-fidelity cross-platform mobile games.

The built-in real-time lighting, texturing, materials, VFX, and shader systems enable mobile devs to realise their creative intent and render elevated graphics with smooth performance across a range of devices.

Everything the developer needs to get started is right there, straight out of the box. They can dive straight in, modelling and refining complex characters and object animations in real time; enhancing game worlds using environment, audio, and physics simulation tools that boost interactivity; and optimising for both high-end and low-end mobile devices.

Developers are also attracted to the reliability of Unreal Engine’s features, which are battle-tested in Epic's own games - like Fortnite Battle Royale - and fully production-ready by the time they make it into UE. 

The Unreal Engine team designs, tests, and releases these powerful tools, including the Blueprint visual scripting system and advanced systems for networking and multiplayer gameplay - putting the most innovative features with top-tier performance in developers' hands.

Last but not least, Unreal Engine is a gateway to a whole ecosystem for mobile developers that includes a vast array of in-editor plugins; the huge Fab library featuring thousands of mobile-ready assets; an open and modular set of free online services for game development with Epic Online Services; and powerful tools like MetaHuman, RealityScan, and more. 

Top mobile games now powered by UE5

Unreal Engine provides a single rendering pipeline that is capable of any art style, scalable across platforms. That paid off for Infold Games, who were able to use UE5 to bring the highly stylised world of the Nikki series to a vast open world in Infinity Nikki - a cross-platform game optimised to work on mobile.

On MONGIL: STAR DIVE, Netmarble Monster used UE5’s flexible Material system, Sequencer, Unreal Insights, and source code access to deliver an expansive world with charming characters while offering a unique gameplay experience each time out.

Netmarble Monster founder and CEO Ken Kim explains that Unreal Engine 5 enabled the team to deliver a seamless experience on mobile.

“From the beginning, we aimed to create a seamless modular level structure without loading screens to provide users with smooth adventures across a vast world,” he says. 

“Unreal Engine’s asynchronous Level Streaming system was the key to achieving this goal,” Kim continues. “It loads resources in the background while keeping the game smooth and responsive - even on mobile devices. This allowed us to deliver fluid interactions and immersive gameplay across all platforms.”

Netmarble opted to use Unreal Engine on the story-driven, open world action-adventure RPG Game of Thrones: Kingsroad for a whole range of reasons, from the high visual fidelity it can achieve and the powerful cross-platform support it offers to the comprehensive set of tools for development and the far-reaching support available on the Epic Developer Community.

“UE5 provides cutting-edge technologies that enable stunning visuals and deeply immersive experiences,” says Hyun-il Jang, project director at Netmarble. “Lumen in particular allows for an unprecedented level of realism, making Westeros feel more lifelike than ever before.

“In addition to its visual capabilities, UE5 offers powerful cross-platform support for PC and mobile. This ensures that Game of Thrones: Kingsroad reaches a broader audience while maintaining a high-quality experience across all devices.”

Carmen Sandiego launched on Netflix for mobile initially before rolling out to PC and console. Gameloft opted to use UE to develop this mobile-first title for many reasons, but high up the list was the visual quality they’d be able to hit.

“Unreal Engine’s advanced rendering capabilities bring each global location in Carmen Sandiego to life with stunning detail and vibrant colours,” says Liz Ballantyne, studio art director at Gameloft.

“From the breathtaking Aurora lights in Reykjavik to the vibrant marine life beneath the ocean in the Great Barrier Reef, Unreal allows us to craft visually distinctive, culturally rich environments that capture the essence of each location.”

To find out more about creating mobile games with Unreal Engine, check out the website.