In the realm of PCs and PC gaming, consumers often find themselves caught in fierce debates. AMD vs Intel. Nvidia vs AMD. WASD vs arrow keys. You can usually find advocates for each side. However, when it comes to Unreal Engine 5, the overwhelming sentiment among gamers is that it performs poorly.
Epic Games has attempted repeatedly to counter these accusations, but with ongoing discussions, CEO Tim Sweeney has now addressed the issue by stating that the main reason Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) games face performance issues relates to the development practices.
At the recent Unreal Fest in Seoul, as reported by Korean outlet This is Game (via RedGamingTech), Sweeney responded to inquiries about optimization in UE5 games. He mentioned, “The primary reason Unreal Engine 5-based games don’t run smoothly on certain PCs or GPUs is the development process.”
He pointed out that many developers initially create games for high-end systems and then adapt them for lower-spec devices late in the production.
As he explained, this approach leads to optimization only happening once much of the game is complete, which often results in inadequate time for thorough revisions. Sweeney emphasized that better performance could be achieved if developers began with broader compatibility in mind from the onset of development.
Furthermore, he acknowledged that fine-tuning games to run well across a variety of platforms is a time-consuming endeavor. “Since optimization requires significant manual labor, we plan to provide automated optimization features for various devices, enabling developers to work faster and more effectively.”
He added, “It’s crucial to adopt optimization early in the process. Our engineers are ready to assist developers with optimization techniques and share best practices if needed.”
While he’s correct about the primary issues lying in the development methodology, it remains critical to understand the balance developers must maintain when choosing which systems to optimize. The ongoing discourse about Unreal Engine 5 and its performance will likely continue as more titles are developed on this platform.
