Bethesda Switching To Unreal Would Hurt Modding, Says Former Dev

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Summary

  • Bethesda has been using its own Creation Engine for years, which is built on an engine it has used since Morrowind.
  • Fans have long complained that it feels dated now, even with the upgrades it got for Starfield.
  • A former dev says that switching to Unreal could hurt the studio, however, as well as the modding community.

For quite some time now, members of the gaming community have been urging Bethesda to abandon their self-developed Creation Engine and move towards using Unreal instead. This demand intensified when Starfield was released, with many gamers criticizing the game for feeling outdated due to holdovers from Bethesda’s style such as extended load times and stiff animations. Despite progress made by most developers in this area, these issues persist.

Moving to Unreal Engine might not solve all the problems fans imagine it will. In a conversation with Video Gamer, ex-Bethesda design lead Dan Nanni discusses potential implications for the company and, notably, the devoted modding community. According to him, switching engines after such a long period could inadvertently harm the dedicated modders who fine-tune Bethesda’s games, which is something the company would likely strive to prevent.

Former Bethesda Dev Says There’s “No Right Answer” To The Engine Switch Debate

Nanni states, “Your mod community, who are proficient in your engine and have been creating content for years on the platform you’re about to release, possesses invaluable knowledge. The question is: Is it wise to discard this wealth of expertise? What benefits will you derive from it? You can construct arguments both for and against this decision, but there isn’t a definitive right answer. Ultimately, you must decide what course of action best suits your situation.

Not only modders, but also Bethesda’s developers might face challenges if they decide to switch from Creation Engine to Unreal Engine. According to Nanni, the Creation Engine is tailored to suit Bethesda’s unique style of role-playing games. If they opt for Unreal, they would essentially need to adapt it to their own games, a process similar to creating a brand new engine from scratch. However, Nanni suggests that in the long run, this switch could be beneficial as it would require some work to get up and running.

At present, Bethesda appears to be persisting with their proprietary engine for game development, with only one notable exception: Oblivion Remastered, which was a collaboration with Virtuos instead of being developed entirely in-house. While this version was built using Unreal Engine, it lacks mod support, making the task more challenging for mod creators who are nevertheless actively working on modifications at an impressive speed.

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2025-05-19 18:04