When Bethesda Softworks released Starfield in 2023, some gamers criticized the company for perceived technical shortcomings. Despite significant updates to the Creation Engine, many players felt it was time for Bethesda to embrace newer technologies like Unreal Engine 5. However, according to a former developer on the RPG, the transition isn’t as straightforward as it might seem.
Dan Nanni, a former Bethesda employee, recently spoke with VideoGamer. During the interview, Nanni explained that switching to Unreal Engine is a complex undertaking because the engine’s toolset isn’t ideally suited for the large-scale and easily modifiable projects favored by Todd Howard and his team.
“If you want to ditch your engine and start from scratch, you’ll have to go through the whole process again. Unreal doesn’t give you everything out of the box – you’ll have to create a lot yourself,” Nanni stated.
Bethesda’s attachment to the Creation Engine (or Creation Engine 2, as used for Starfield) stems primarily from the company’s deep familiarity with its own toolset. Bethesda Game Studios has an entire division of specialists who have worked with this engine for decades. Switching to the Unreal Engine would necessitate extensive retraining for a large number of employees to achieve potentially similar results.
“From a technology standpoint, you have a whole team of programmers and a whole department built around this engine. They know how it works. Many of them have been there for 20-25 years,” Nanni pointed out.
He further elaborated, “Even if you move to Unreal, you’re going to have to take your entire tech department with you and train them to use this new tool. It takes a lot of time. But no matter how long it takes, you have to ask yourself: is it worth it?”
Furthermore, Bethesda is keen to support its dedicated modding community. As Nanni noted, Unreal Engine has significantly more limited modding capabilities – a point recently highlighted by the The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.
However, the former Starfield designer doesn’t entirely dismiss the possibility of Bethesda eventually moving away from the Creation Engine. He believes, though, that such a significant shift is unlikely to happen in the near future.