Is Unreal Engine 5 becoming the new standard for AAA game development? For a lot of studios, the answer is yes.

CD Projekt RED dropped its own REDengine. GSC Game World moved S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 to Unreal Engine 5.5.4. Game Science switched Black Myth: Wukong from UE4 to UE5 mid-project. These are big shifts, and they show a clear trend: studios are ditching custom tools in favor of Epic’s ecosystem.

Why Are Studios Switching to Unreal Engine 5?

UE5 goes beyond visual upgrades. Its tools reduce busywork and speed up development.

Nanite handles film-quality assets in real time; there is no need for multiple levels of detail. Lumen makes lighting dynamic, so you don’t need pre-baked setups, environments just react.

Tools like Quixel Megascans and RealityCapture let artists use high-end assets without building everything from scratch. World Partition handles streaming for big maps. Control Rig lets animators make changes in the editor, without bouncing between programs. Chaos Physics adds destruction and movement out of the box, no plugins required.

CD Projekt RED said REDengine became too complex to maintain. With UE5, they can focus on making the game instead of fixing tools. Small code changes don’t risk breaking everything.

Game Science saw productivity gains. Virtual Heightfield Mesh and updated shader workflows helped them test faster and make terrain look better. The switch to UE5 cut bottlenecks and helped polish visuals.

GSC Game World pointed to better editor stability and shader handling in UE5.5.4. They said it made testing smoother and helped scale across platforms, especially for consoles.

2026: A Tipping Point for Unreal Engine 5

This year could be the turning point. Halo Studios is remaking Halo: Campaign Evolved in UE5. They’re using Nanite for geometry and Lumen for lighting that reacts to the player.

Crystal Dynamics and Amazon are rebuilding Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis in UE5. CD Projekt RED is deep into the next The Witcher game using it too.

The End of In-House Engines?

Custom engines used to be part of a studio’s identity, but they’re expensive. They take time, require big teams, and slow down hiring.

UE5 removes a lot of that. Devs already trained on the engine are easy to hire. Artists don’t need to learn new tools for every project. Teams can get moving faster, and it costs less.

Just like Unity became standard for mobile and indie, Unreal is becoming the default for AAA. It runs on every platform and includes smart features like World Partition and Temporal Super Resolution to help with scale and performance.

What Could Go Wrong?

UE5 isn’t magic. Some games still drop frames on console, even with careful tuning. It takes work to get performance right, especially with lighting, physics, and open worlds.

And it’s not for every project. If you’re building a game with a specific art style or custom tech, UE5 might get in the way. Some studios need full control, and that means going custom.

There’s another downside too. When lots of games use the same engine, they can start to look and feel the same. Animations, lighting, even camera movement can feel familiar. That doesn’t ruin a game, but it makes it harder to stand out.

What This Means for Players

Games built in UE5 tend to be more stable and easier to update. Patches come faster. Studios working in a shared engine have smoother pipelines, and mods are easier to support.

But too much standardization can backfire. If everything runs on the same tech, some of the uniqueness can get lost. It’s easier to build, but harder to surprise.

To wrap things up, here’s a neat little fun fact. At a time when Unreal Engine 5 is making its way into more and more games, even the biggest classics aren’t being left behind. Gothic 1 has also received a UE5-based mod that significantly improves the game’s visuals. What’s more, it’s incredibly easy to try out: just go to the game’s Properties on Steam, head to Versions & Betas, and select “Unrealbeta Gothic classic in Unreal.” It’s a great example of how a legendary title can gain a second life thanks to modern technology.

UE5 Games Summary

Unreal Engine 5 speeds up development and cuts risk. It gives teams solid tools out of the box. But it also nudges the whole industry toward a shared look and feel.