Epic Games has announced a major update for Unreal Engine, the popular graphics engine that is widely used in game creation and movie production. Unreal Engine 5.2 brings an important new feature: native support for Apple M1 and M2 chips.

Previously, computers powered by Apple Silicon M1 and M2 chips relied on a code converter called Rosetta to run the Unreal Engine. This is because only one version of the graphics engine, intended for Intel processors, was available for macOS.

Impact of domestic support for Apple chips

This reliance on Rosetta means that some of the device’s performance is used to convert the code. With Unreal Engine 5.2, this hurdle has been removed: now, the graphics engine can harness the full power of Apple’s processors, since Rosetta is no longer required – all program code is compatible with Apple ARM chips.

The delay in implementing local support for Apple chips can be attributed to the legal conflict between Epic Games and Apple. Epic claims that Apple is overcharging 30% on App Store purchases and forcing developers to use its own payment systems.

Other news Unreal Engine 5.2

In addition to supporting Apple chipsets, Unreal Engine 5.2 brings other news. Among them, the new procedural content generation (PCG) framework stands out, which populates scenes with predefined elements to speed up content creation.

Another feature is Substrate, a tool that allows developers to control the appearance of elements in real time. The update also includes new tools for producing virtual content.