Ever since the release of Unreal Engine 5 in 2022, there's been a suggestion that it struggles to run on certain platforms and types of PCs, particularly when it comes to lower-spec devices that seemingly can't handle it as effectively.
Speaking in a recent roundtable interview in South Korea though (thanks, This Is Game and VGC), Epic CEO Tim Sweeney suggested that developers are optimising too late in the process for Unreal Engine 5, meaning that they're building their games for high-end hardware and then struggling to scale it for lower-spec devices later in the process.
In the machine-translated quote below, Sweeney explains how it needs to be "early in development":
"The primary reason why Unreal Engine 5-based games don’t run smoothly on certain PCs or GPUs is the development process. 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 says there are two "major solutions" the company is putting in place to try and help developers with this in the future, with one being to provide "automated optimization features for various devices, making the process faster and easier for developers", and the other being to strengthen developer training and raise awareness of how important the optimisation process is in the early stages of creating a game.
He also mentions that games are becoming more complex than ever to make, and that engine and game developers are now increasingly required to work together in order to solve the multitude of issues that can crop up during the process.
"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."
We've seen numerous examples of Unreal Engine 5 projects that have clearly struggled with optimisation on Xbox in recent years (Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is one from this week alone), but a few have flourished out the gate as well - Digital Foundry praised Avowed as one of the best UE5 examples so far back in February.
Avowed still struggled a bit on PC specifically though, and that's despite it being benchmarked for a low-spec device in the form of the Xbox Series S. We don't envy these developers - optimisation sounds like a nightmare to get right!