Itamar Rogel

Unreal Engine 5 launches with much praise and some criticism

Art imitating life? Life imitating art?

Or in the words of one commentator on Youtube: “It is not a graphic engine…this is art!”

This was one typical reaction to the latest generation of Unreal Engine, issued this April by developer Epic Games. As seen in the short Unreal Engine 5 trailer, the scenery and images look artistic but also way too real. The 5th edition of this game engine, which debuted in 1998 and was first showcased in the Unreal video game, has been further improved, as it continues to serve a variety of 3D games as well as film and television projects.

 

Unreal Engine 5 launches with much praise and some criticism

Eight years have passed since the previous version, and anticipation for the 5th installment of the engine was obviously building among developers and players worldwide. Affogata performed a launch analysis, evaluating over 9,000 specific mentions and reactions from users over the first half of April. Commenters voiced their appreciation, but also criticism, over Unreal Engine 5, but since new and improved technologies take time to leave their true mark, the jury is still out regarding this version’s performance with professionals.

 

A little over a third of all mentions dealt with the gaming industry and with development topics, while an additional 13% pertained to developer utilization, as many mentions referred to how the technology would change artistry, animation, and the development skillsets. Then there was the 5% who devoted their comments to just how the technology would benefit the film and television industries using the engine for CGI and post-production.

 

Developers and players voicing their positive sentiments praised Unreal Engine 5 for its beauty and realistic aesthetics. Such wide acclaim also included the new opportunities this version has opened up for professionals to improve their standard of work and coding capabilities.

 

On the other hand, there were small groups of users who feared that implementing the new engine would be difficult and would lead to creating sub-par games and art. One group of comments voiced concern over the high technical proficiency required, one that would make using it for console games impossible. Another group criticized Epic Games’ claim to use 120 frames per second quality, a feat that would probably end up appearing on actual games with only a lower quality of 60 or even 30 Fps.

 

Finally, close to 5% of total mentions were worried about one of the exclusive games launching with Unreal Engine (check Kingdom Hearts 4 – reveal trailer). The new images on this popular game seemed too real and presented to those users a major deviation from the original anime-like characters. In their opinion, the new technology did not do justice to the artistry of those figures.

 

Despite those comments, the launch of Unreal Engine 5 drew mainly large acclaim, as noticed also by reactions from commenters to popular games’ upcoming upgraded versions. Titles such as “Fortnite”, “Tomb Raider”, the “Witcher 4” and an introductory Matrix trilogy game, all in current or post-production stages, excited users anticipating the new engine’s features to make them look even more amazing.

 

Affogata tracks market trends from all over the open web, based on huge volumes of users’ comments and conversations, and then analyzes them for figuring out the public’s sentiment. Companies using such data analysis can make actionable insights into their products, services, and brand.