Epic Games has acquired Sketchfab, with the platform for discovering, editing, buying and selling 3D content directly online web-based service joining the ever expanding Metaverse.
The move is potentially a very smart one from Epic Games: Sketchfab is home to 4 million 3D assets in its current guise, with technology that has integrations across every major 3D creation tool and publishing platform and is compatible across all major browsers and operating systems, on both desktop and mobile.
By joining forces, Epic Games and Sketchfab will be able to make 3D visualisation, AR and VR content more accessible and grow the buoyant ecosystem for 3D asset creators.
Going forward Epic Games says it will continue to enable all of the integrations in place with Sketchfab’s technology, as well as ensuring its offerings will remain compatible with each of the different tools and platforms it supports – including Unity and other competing engines.
Sketchfab will continue to operate as an independently branded service while collaborating closely with the Unreal Engine team.
As part of the move to make Sketchfab’s offerings more profitable to creators, and quite probably to attract more users to the platform, Sketchfab’s store fees are to be reduced to 12 per cent so that 3D creators will gain even more value.
“The Sketchfab team has done an incredible job opening up the world of 3D content on the web and enabling anyone to edit and publish content online,” said Unreal Engine VP and GM Marc Petit. “As the adoption of real-time 3D technology continues to grow, demand for web-based solutions will only increase. We are excited to work together with the Sketchfab team to empower even more creators.”
“We built Sketchfab with a mission to empower a new era of creativity and provide a service for creators to showcase their work online and make 3D content accessible,” said Sketchfab CEO Alban Denoyel.
“Joining Epic will enable us to accelerate the development of Sketchfab and our powerful online toolset, all while providing an even greater experience for creators. We are proud to work alongside Epic to build the Metaverse and enable creators to take their work even further.”
