Epic Games responds to controversy over its new Fab marketplace: “Preserving someone’s work is paramount to us”

Epic Games has launched Fab, a unified digital marketplace designed to consolidate the company’s existing storefronts, including the Unreal Engine Marketplace, the Sketchfab Store, and Quixel. The platform serves as a centralized hub for buying, selling, and sharing digital assets across various game engines and content creation tools, such as Unreal Engine, Unreal Engine for Fortnite, and Unity. Future updates are expected to expand support to additional engines like Godot, as well as file formats for platforms like Roblox and Minecraft.

The transition has generated significant industry discourse regarding the migration of existing content and the long-term preservation of digital assets. Concerns were particularly high among the cultural heritage and historical preservation communities, who utilize Sketchfab to host over 100,000 specialized models. In response, Epic Games leadership has emphasized that preserving creator work remains a primary objective. While some specific license types and file formats are currently ineligible for migration, the company has committed to maintaining the availability of existing content and plans to integrate the ArtStation Marketplace by 2025.

To incentivize adoption, Epic Games is offering publishers 100% of revenue on Fab Standard-licensed products through the end of 2024. Additionally, the company plans to release a free library of over 1,500 Megascans assets in 2025, accessible to users regardless of their chosen engine or platform. The new marketplace also introduces enhanced features, such as a real-time 3D asset viewer and mandatory disclosures regarding the use of generative AI in product creation, aiming to improve transparency and user experience for developers.