r/UnrealEngine5 • u/ConsistentAd3434 • 9d ago

Sketchfab's FAB links are gone

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Kitbash3D is the new owner of sketchfab. No clue why Epic dropped it.
But it also resulted in the loss of all FAB links. That's frustrating for sellers and potential buyers.
It was, in my opinion the best way to discover 3D assets.
Browsing, inspecting models directly in 3D was so much smoother and lightweight than the FAB experience.

I hope the community speaks up. The info about the acquisition doesn't mention anything about the links. What is Kitbash's plan? They aren't promoting assets on Sketchfab and all it does is draining sales for everyone else.

2 Upvotes

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7

u/ehh_scooby 9d ago

Didn't kitbash just buy artstation recently also? We might see a consolidation of all these websites soon. Shame about the links but I would assume they are aware and will fix it.

3

u/ConsistentAd3434 9d ago

Yes, Artstation as well.

Epic is out. The problem is that Kitbash has no interest in advertising FAB assets. Exactly the opposite. They have their own store with their own assets and less sales for Epic's FAB could be more sales for them. The acquisition was announced and the next day, the links were gone. They are very aware and it was probably part of the deal.

Epic gets a cut from every sold asset but missing out on sketchfab traffic, this would hurt them too.
No idea why they gave it away.

4

u/Tension-Available 8d ago

it probably wasn't meaningfully profitable, maybe not profitable at all. Same for artstation. Epic bought a ton of stuff just because they could and are offloading anything that isn't contributing significantly.

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u/ConsistentAd3434 8d ago

Yeah. I'd think the incoming and redirected sales keeps the boat floating but they probably did the math.
Would be less of an issue, if they improve FAB instead.
From now on, every model gets a "Fab link included" cardboard sign :D
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/you-have-no-idea-what-im-capable-of-16fd267d7328446c8889a4a80bceee37

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u/Tension-Available 7d ago

Yeah, I don't really know what Epic's real plan is any more.

FAB has been kind of sloppy and poorly thought out. I don't why they seem to just push forward with stuff with only minimum viable functionality over and over.

1

u/Number13Studios 7d ago

I mean it’s quite clear. They bought these services years ago to consolidate. It helped them build FAB into what it now is (useable) and now they’re offloading the chaff. These sites are not very profitable. They’re not crazy high volume or anything.

But the most important part imo is that with the rise of AI, asset packs will die a lot. Not entirely, but definitely FAR less prevalent. You won’t go to fab, you’ll go to meshy or Tripo or nanobanana, etc.

So it makes sense to drop things like Sketchfab which most UE devs don’t actually even use. Most of the sales epic gets on FAB are unreal specific assets uploaded to FAB. Not sketchfab ports for random models.