In a nutshell: Unreal Engine powers some of the world's biggest games, but its reputation has taken a hit as several high-profile releases stumble with performance issues. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney argues the problem isn't the technology itself – it's how developers are using it. His comments cut to the core of an ongoing debate about whether today's development struggles stem from engines, hardware, or studio practices – and how much responsibility Epic should bear in addressing them.
Recent high-profile Unreal Engine 5 releases have highlighted the challenges of game development with Epic's popular creation tool. Games such as Metal Gear Solid Delta or Wuchang: Fallen Feathers have suffered from significant performance issues, but Sweeney insists the blame lies with game studios rather than the engine itself.
Speaking at an Unreal Fest keynote in South Korea, Sweeney explained that the main cause of stuttering, slowdowns, and other graphics-related issues is the order of development. Many studios, he said, focus on building for top-tier hardware first, leaving optimization and low-spec testing until the final stages of production.
Ideally, optimization should begin early in development – even before designers complete the full game content. Sweeney acknowledged that the development process is far more complex now than it was ten years ago, which is why these issues cannot be solved simply by tweaking an engine or SDK.
"We're doing two things: strengthening engine support with more automated optimization across devices, and expanding developer education so 'optimize early' becomes standard practice. If needed, our engineers can step in," Sweeney said during the interview.
The Epic founder emphasized that engine makers and studios need closer collaboration if they want to deliver well-performing, broadly accessible games. Epic is also applying lessons learned from optimizing Fortnite for low-end hardware to improve the Unreal Engine SDK, helping more UE titles run better on lower-spec PCs.
The latest versions of Unreal Engine are indeed focused on improving performance, particularly in CPU-limited scenarios. Epic is offloading more rendering tasks to the GPU, reducing CPU bottlenecks and allowing developers to fully leverage features like Lumen global illumination and Nanite geometry.
Sweeney's vision for an ideal development workflow sounds promising on paper, but it could present challenges for indie developers.
Smaller projects often lack the optimization resources we expect from AAA studios. It remains to be seen how Epic will support smaller teams in adopting these practices and make UE development more efficient for everyone.