Epic launches combined Fab marketplace amid confusion and backlash from artists and developers
Fab, the new unified marketplace from Epic Games is launching today, combining the offerings of Unreal Engine Marketplace, Sketchfab Store and Quixel.
As announced way back at GDC 2023, the Fortnite firm is bringing together the four stores it owns for 3D models and other development assets into one place, with plans to integrate ArtStation's marketplace next year.
The new Fab site allows developers to buy and download tens of thousands of game assets, 3D environments, visual effects, music and sound effects, character models, animations and more. Assets are organised into categories, with users able to filter for products specifically for Unreal Engine, Unreal Engine for Fortnite or Unity (in addition to Epic's main rival, these are plans to support assets for Godot and even user-generated content to titles like Roblox and Minecraft).
A real-time 3D viewer also enables developers to fully inspect the assets they're interested in before purchase. Finally, a plug-in for Unreal Engine lets developers bring their purchases directly into the project they're working on. Social and community features are limited at present, but Epic plans to expand these over time.
However, the launch comes amid confusion and outrage among developers, particularly within the Sketchfab community as concerns are raised that the migration to Fab will result in the removal of over a decade's worth of creations. Multiple Reddit threads on r/Sketchfab have been dedicated to the issues with moving content over to Fab, as well as the new store's lack of features compared to that of the previous marketplace.
The chief concern is that the ability to download content from Sketchfab will be removed at some point in 2025, as stated in an email from Epic to the site's users. The platform has become an essential resource for artists, as well as museums and universities, to share and host digital collections of 3D models.
The fear is that this content will eventually be removed if it is not migrated to Fab,
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