Unreal Engine’s Tool Integrates LUKSO Before Solana, Bitcoin

Unreal Engine, a development framework for deploying interactive 2D and 3D content by Epic Games, has integrated LUKSO’s mainnet and standards in their recently enhanced Blockchain integration plugin, according to a September 19 tweet. The tool currently supports various platforms, including Polygon and Avalanche.

LUKSO Supported By Unreal Engine’s Blockchain Integration Plugin

The incorporation, LUKSO added, means users will be free to interact directly with universal profiles and flexible non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from games. Universal Profiles in LUKSO are interoperable and represent verified digital identities, giving users control of their online avatars and digital assets. 

Interested users can purchase and download the blockchain tool. According to Unreal Engine documentation, the plugin is a set of tools and libraries that allow game developers to integrate blockchain functionality into their games. This capability is possible since the plugin can communicate with smart contracts programmed using Solidity.

The engine can communicate with smart contracts compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), including LUKSO. Unreal Engine also reveals that the plugin allows users to mint, transfer, and use non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a “gateway” for exploration. Users can also use the plugin to integrate play-to-earn (P2E) features.

Hours after this deal was made public, LYX, the native token of the LUKSO blockchain, remains stable but firm. Like the broader crypto market, the coin is recovering after posting sharp losses from mid-August. When writing on September 19, LYX is changing hands at $5.56, down 43% from July peaks when the token was listed on KuCoin, a cryptocurrency exchange.

Planned Support Bitcoin, Solana, And OpenSea

Initially, when the Unreal Engine blockchain integration tool launched, it only supported Ethereum, the pioneer smart contracts platform whose NFT and gaming ecosystem is relatively more active.

However, subsequent updates have seen Epic Games integrate zero knowledge rollups, Immutable X, and Optimism, layer-2 solutions meant to scale Ethereum while keeping transaction costs low. Before this update, the plugin also supports the ERC-20 and ERC-1155 standards.

Epic Games and Unreal Engine are incorporating LUKSO functionalities ahead of Solana despite the former being EVM-compatible. While Solana offers high scalability and lower trading fees, LUKSO is co-founded by Fabian Vogelsteller, the author of the ERC-20 standard—a blueprint that powers thousands of tokens, including UNI, the native token of Uniswap; and MKR, the governance token of Maker.

Vogelsteller is credited as one of the few people who shaped Ethereum in its early days. The engine plugin will also support OpenSea and Bitcoin in coming versions.

Feature image from Canva, chart from TradingView