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, but Epic tells GamesIndustry.biz that this will not be the case; while the Sketchfab Store is moving over, the bulk of the website itself will remain untouched.

"We're definitely not deleting anyone's content, it's not ours to delete," says Bill Clifford, Epic's vice president and general manager for creator marketplaces. "As we've made clear in our communications, nothing is going to change on Sketchfab today outside of the store.

"All the utilities that Sketchfab delivers in terms of being really one of the few places where you can upload, view, and share 3D models on the web – either publicly or privately – that's not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, we want to invest a lot in that capability."

Clifford further clarifies that, while the Sketchfab Store is closed for business as of today, the listings will remain live for some time, linking people to the Fab pages of the same products (assuming developers have migrated them. If they have not, they will need to do so in order to continue selling these assets). Anything users have bought from Sketchfab, or any of the other marketplaces being combined into Fab, will be available via their account.

The Epic exec also acknowledged complaints from the Sketchfab community that certain formats and licence types cannot be migrated yet, assuring that new ones will be continually added over time.

Nonetheless, Sketchfab artists are lobbying against the new store with a Change.org petition started by American folk art specialist Emily Esser calling for the site to be kept alive, if only to preserve the more than 100,000 3D models from historians and cultural heritage societies. At the time of writing, the petition has 399 signatures.

In its rallying cry against the migration, the petition suggests that changes to Sketchfab – including the removal of the ability to download free models – is "the virtual equivalent of burning the Library of Alexandria."

To this, Clifford responds: "We have no intention of burning any libraries. Change is tough and we've tried to be extremely clear and concise in our communications, and I think sometimes it's easily misinterpreted, especially as you go deeper and deeper into Reddit threads.

"We actually reached out to the cultural heritage community on Sketchfab. We're speaking to them directly and answering any questions. Their models will still be available on Sketchfab for discovery and download."

"We're definitely not deleting anyone's content - it's not ours to delete"

He continues: "Preserving someone's work is paramount to us. The fact that Sketchfab has become one of the only places [for this content] because of the utility that the platform offers where you can upload a scan of a historical object, or recreate it as a 3D model, and have it live on a platform that makes that model very easily consumable over a web page – that has been unique for years and it's important."

Similarly, he assures that ArtStation – which will see its store migrated into Fab during 2025 – will also remain largely the same and that "the brand as a site is never going to go away."

"ArtStation is a very important platform for the creator ecosystem and the digital artist community," Clifford explains. "It's the place where you host your portfolio, where you can find work. It's the place where most game studios, visual effects studios, virtual production companies – all these different industries – go to recruit. So ArtStation is really important as a platform to help creators thrive."

He pointed to ArtStation as an example of how Epic is aiming to create a "bidirectional relationship" between Fab and the sites whose stores it has replaced. Creator and publisher pages on Fab have the option of including links to their ArtStation portfolios, so customers who enjoy their products or perhaps want to hire them can click through and find their profile on the original site.

The confusion could perhaps be attributed to miscommunication on Epic's part, but Clifford tells us he's "not sure there's much more we could have done." The Fab store was announced at GDC 2023, with updates delivered both via blog posts and forum posts, as well as direct communication with some of the users on each of the sites.

An Epic spokesperson adds that this is the initial phase of Fab's launch, for which Epic has been "mostly focused on those who are immediately impacted," such as sellers. As efforts around Fab continue to expand, the company will be reaching out to a wider range of users to "provide more granular detail on what's changing."

"When it comes to selling digital assets, it's a pretty large total addressable market spread out across a lot of subscale marketplaces. We think the market really needs this single destination"

Nevertheless, concerns remain within the artist community. Common themes among complaints are companies like Epic being driven by profit and that decisions around consolidating four marketplaces into one will be made with that in mind.

This is perhaps understandable given the approach to Quixel. The site hosted over 17,000 'Megascans' of highly detailed 3D models, all of which can be downloaded for free in a single package until the end of 2024. After this, a "cross-section of the Megascans library" will be made available free for all users.

Artists also still question what happens to all Sketchfab content, as well as that of the other marketplaces, beyond 2025.

But Clifford maintains that the unified Fab store will ultimately benefit both creators and their customers.

"The reality is when it comes to selling digital assets, it's a pretty large total addressable market but it's spread out across a very long tail of subscale marketplaces," he says. "So we think the market really needs this single destination where you can go to discover, share, buy, and sell content."

He adds that Fab could even introduce creators from the four previous stores to new audiences, especially given the growing number of industries using Unreal Engine outside of games development, including automotive, architecture, digital advertising, and virtual production for film and TV.

"Yes, there are some small but very passionate and vocal communities that have surfaced [around Fab's launch]," he said. "But we've had overwhelmingly positive feedback from many people in our ecosystem. The majority are really excited about this change because we're bringing them things they've been asking us to do on Unreal Marketplace for years but we haven't invested enough there and now we've made these investments.

"It's also early. We have built the foundation that we're launching today that I think is a big step forward for many of our creators. But we have a lot of work to do in 2025 and beyond."