Rocket League is finally graduating from Unreal Engine 3. Psyonix announced the League will be moving to Unreal Engine 6, and it will be the first title on UE6.
During the semi-finals at the Rocket League Paris Majors, Psyonix unveiled a “new era” of the car-sports hybrid, and it’s potentially the most ambitious to date. Since launch, Rocket League has been running on Unreal Engine 3, and at the Paris Majors event, Psyonix has revealed the League will be getting a fresh coat of paint as the first title to wear Unreal Engine 6 visuals. The major announcement can be seen below, as it was shown at the Paris event.
While it does appear these are the first visuals of Unreal Engine 6, they are the only ones at the moment. Although the announcement was made, no timeline has been given for the new Rocket League facelift, so it’s uncertain when Rocket League will look as clean as it did in the very brief trailer.
Since its launch over a decade ago, Rocket League has maintained a significant presence with casual fans (becoming Epic Games’ second most significant online free-to-play title) and on the pro stage, and since then, the title has not received a visual overhaul from its Unreal Engine 3 roots. While it has been rumoured for a long time, RL will finally be receiving new visuals, but the surprise is from Unreal Engine 6.
Not much has been revealed about Unreal Engine 6 ahead of the announcement, and before the announcement, the only UE6 knowledge that has been spread comes from a 2025 conversation between Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney and Tech Podcaster Lex Friedman. While many things were discussed in the 4.5-hour conversation, Sweeney mentioned the key difference between UE6 and previous generations was that the company is finally embracing a multithreaded approach with the new engine, where Unreal always used a single-threaded simulation to “simplify things.”
All in all, it appears the first Epic Games title to get the Unreal Engine 6 treatment is Rocket League, leaving Fortnite in second place this time around. No specified timing has been given yet for when Unreal Engine 6 is coming, but fans should note it’s happening.
