Unreal Engine 5's accessibility and powerful 3D creation tools have driven broad adoption, but players report stutter, crashes and mangled graphics on lower-spec hardware. Tim Sweeney attributes many performance problems to studios building for highest-end hardware first and leaving optimisation toward the end of development. He recognises optimisation is difficult and recommends implementing optimisation early, before full-scale content building begins. Epic is working on two main approaches to encourage better optimisation, including strengthening engine support and providing tooling to help developers target lower-spec devices. High-profile releases like Metal Gear Solid Delta have exposed these performance shortcomings on consoles.
As quoted by This Is Game, Tim offered his stance on Unreal Engine 5 performance issues in a media interview after his keynote at Unreal Fest 2025 in Seoul. His take is that the problem lies in how many studios approach game development, leaving optimisation towards the end. "Most developers begin by building for the highest-end hardware, then only in the final stages do they optimize and test for lower-spec devices," he said.
Some devs might say that some platforms are more conducive to optimisation than others (see our Unreal Engine vs Unity comparison). Tim did go on to recognise that optimisation isn't easy, but suggested that ideally it "should be implemented early in development, before full-scale content building begins". He said Epic is now working on paring two main approaches to address the issue and to encourage better optimisation in Unreal Engine 5. "One is to strengthen support for Unreal Engine," he said.
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