Ubisoft Skipped Unreal Engine 5 To Give Devs Artistic Freedom In AC Shadows, Says Technical Architect

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Ubisoft Reveals Why They Ditched Unreal Engine 5!

Story Highlight
  • Ubisoft skipped Unreal Engine 5 for AC Shadows due to a lack of artistic freedom.
  • The technical architect believes that Ubisoft’s AnvilNext Engine is more suitable for its developers.
  • Since Unreal Engine 5 has various problems, this sounds like the right move. 

Unreal Engine 5, released in 2022, was supposed to be the next big leap in gaming. While it does provide brilliant visuals with stunning ray-traced shadows and reflections, it has many problems, like performance issues and other inconsistencies. 

Ubisoft is one of the few studios that won’t be using the engine for its upcoming title, Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The studio says the reason behind ditching the Unreal Engine 5 is because it stifles artistic freedom.

Why it matters: Ubisoft will be using its tried and tested AnvilNext Engine for Assassin’s Creed Shadows because it enables its developers to be more creative and deliver a better experience. 

Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin’s Creed Shadows skipped Unreal Engine 5 as it didn’t allow artistic freedom.

Talking to Venture Beast, Ubisoft’s Technical Architect talked about the development process for their upcoming Assassin’s Creed title. He said that sticking to AnvilNext Engine allows them to give more artistic freedom to their developers. 

If you don’t control your own technology, that kind of thing is harder to do. We might not be able to give our production teams the artistic freedom that we want.

–  Pierre Fortin

Assassin's Creed Shadows
The title uses Ubisoft’s AnvilNext Engine for better optimization and dynamism.

Furthermore, Fortin said that Ubisoft takes a very different approach to game development. It uses different studios for optimizations, dynamism, and innovation, which makes its in-house engine the best choice for its projects. 

While Shadows has been in hot waters due to various reasons, this does sound like the right call by Ubisoft. Unreal Engine games are notorious for performance problems, and if Ubisoft can keep those away with its engine, it would be the right decision. 

What are your thoughts on Ubisoft skipping Unreal Engine 5 and sticking to its in-house engine? Let us know in the comments or join the discussion at the official Tech4Gamers Forum. 

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