PlayFab for Unreal Engine (v2 Unified)
PlayFab for Unreal Engine (v2 Unified) is the next-generation integration built on top of the PlayFab Unified SDK. It provides comprehensive integration with PlayFab’s backend services for Unreal Engine game developers, bringing the modern development practices and unified architecture of the Unified SDK to the Unreal Engine ecosystem.Overview
PlayFab for Unreal Engine provides a unified integration experience, consolidating all PlayFab components into a single distribution. This distribution includes two main components:- PlayFabUnreal: Core plugin providing authentication, services, and game saves. Deliver PlayFab functionalities such as economy, leaderboards, player data, statistics, and more.
- OnlineSubsystemPlayFab: Online Subsystem (OSS) integration enabling Lobby, Matchmaking, Party networking, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP). Includes cross-play, cross-platform communication, and accessibility features powered by Azure Cognitive Services such as real-time text chat translation and voice transcription.
Supported Platforms
PlayFab for Unreal Engine is ready to power your games on these platforms today:- Windows (PC and Handheld)
- XBOX (One, Series S|X, Cloud)
- Steam Deck
- PlayStation (PS4, PS5)
- Nintendo Switch (Switch 1, Switch 2)
We recommend PlayFab for Unreal Engine (v2 Unified) for all new projects. It offers a modern, unified architecture with an improved developer experience.
Components
OnlineSubsystemPlayFab (OSS)
The OnlineSubsystem PlayFab (OSS) provides full integration with Unreal Engine’s Online Subsystem framework, enabling PlayFab’s multiplayer and networking services through standard Unreal interfaces. This component includes:- Lobby: Create and manage game lobbies for multiplayer sessions using Unreal’s session interfaces
- Matchmaking: Connect players based on skill, preferences, and other criteria
- Party Data Communication: Low-latency, cross-platform messaging for real-time multiplayer gameplay
- Party Voice Chat: Integrated voice communication with Azure Cognitive Services features like speech-to-text and translation
- Multiple simultaneous sessions: Create, join, and manage multiple named sessions at the same time, such as a social lobby alongside an active match. Each named session can use its own PlayFab Party network. A game instance still has a single active gameplay connection, and voice is owned by one session at a time.
- Dedicated server hosting: Host sessions using the PlayFab server entity, so a dedicated server can create and own PlayFab lobbies and manage Party networking without a signed-in native-platform user.
- Configurable searchable session settings: Choose which Unreal session settings are searchable through PlayFab Lobby to enable server-side filtered discovery on title-specific properties such as game mode, playlist, skill tier, or map.
- Play-in-Editor (PIE): Run the OSS in a single Play-in-Editor instance on Unreal Engine 5.8 or later with GDK as the native OSS, so you can test supported flows without a packaged or standalone build.
PlayFabUnreal Plugin
The PlayFabUnreal plugin provides core PlayFab functionality:- PlayFab Core: Authentication and event pipeline (telemetry) services that form the foundation for all PlayFab operations
- PlayFab Services: Game features including leaderboards, economy, player data, statistics, and catalog management
- PlayFab Game Saves: Cross-platform cloud saves for preserving player progress across devices and sessions
Getting Started
For setup instructions and detailed documentation, visit the GitHub repository: PlayFab Unreal Engine Plugin on GitHub The repository includes:- Installation and configuration guides
- API reference documentation
- Sample projects and code examples
- Platform-specific setup instructions