Here's Unreal Engine 5 running on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X

Epic shows off Unreal Engine 5 running in real-time on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X hardware.

Unreal Engine 5 made its debut running on PlayStation 5, and Sony since invested $450 million into Epic. Now we get our first look at the engine running on Microsoft's new Xbox Series X hardware. Today Epic showcased more details about Unreal Engine 5 and the big benefits it offers developers. The new engine is incredibly efficient, powerful, and versatile, and while the latest video is more so aimed at developers, it gives gamers a good idea of what to expect from new next-gen exclusives.

Big highlights from the presentation include:

• Nanite - New virtualized geometry technology that allows artists to freely create as they see fit while the engine does the work. There's no cost to LoD and artists can import cinematic-quality high-res assets right into scenes with billions of triangles.
• Lumen -New lighting system that reacts globally to light changes and scenes made with Nanite.

"Lumen is our fully-dynamic real-time global illumination system that immediately reacts to scene and light change, making for more believable experiences," Epic says.

Epic Games also confirms that all existing UE4 data files and projects can be converted to UE5, which is great for developers working on cross-gen games.

"All of your UE4 projects can be upgraded to UE5 so you won't have to worry about forward compatibility for what you're working on now."

Unreal Engine 5 is currently in early access, and a sample project is now available. The company says a full production-ready release is set for early 2022.