UE5 has rapidly become one of the most widely used game engines in the industry, powering projects from indie developers to major AAA studios. But despite its popularity, the engine has not escaped criticism—particularly when it comes to performance and optimization issues in recent releases.
Tim Sweeney Addresses Developer Concerns
In a recent roundtable interview in South Korea, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney responded to UE5 criticism, pushing back on the idea that the engine itself is inherently flawed. Instead, Sweeney suggested that much of the problem lies in how developers approach optimization during the production cycle.
“The primary reason why Unreal Engine 5-based games don’t run smoothly on certain PCs or GPUs is the development process,” Sweeney explained. “Many developers develop games for high-end hardware, then perform optimization and testing on lower-spec devices in the final stages of development. Of course, optimization is by no means an easy task—it’s a very challenging one. Ideally, optimization should be implemented early in development, before full-scale content build begins.”
Sweeney emphasized that several Unreal Engine 5 titles have already demonstrated excellent performance, indicating that the engine itself isn’t fundamentally broken.
Epic Games’ Planned Solutions
Acknowledging developer struggles, Sweeney confirmed that Epic Games is actively working on tools to make optimization easier. These include:
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Automated optimization features to help games run more smoothly across different hardware.
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Better educational resources to raise awareness of the importance of early optimization.
Sweeney also noted that the complexity of modern game development contributes to these challenges. “Compared to a decade ago, the complexity of games themselves has significantly increased, making optimization at the engine level a challenge. Consequently, game developers and engine developers like us are increasingly required to collaborate to solve these issues.”
The Future of Unreal Engine 5
Despite the ongoing debate, Unreal Engine 5 adoption is accelerating across the industry. The engine is already being used in some of the biggest upcoming projects, with franchises like Halo moving away from proprietary technology in favor of UE5.
With Epic Games committed to improving developer tools and workflows, it’s clear that Unreal Engine 5 is here to stay. While optimization remains a challenge, the collaboration between Epic and developers may pave the way for smoother, more efficient game performance in the years ahead.