Skyrim's lead designer: Bethesda should stick with its Creation Engine

Skyrim lead designer Bruce Nesmith told PressBoxPR that Bethesda should keep using its in-house Creation Engine, arguing the benefits of switching to Unreal Engine "are probably not going to materialise until two titles down the road." Nesmith defended the studio's long use of the engine: "The Creation Engine has been tweaked to serve Bethesda’s purposes for so many years, decades really, that at this point, it's probably a wiser bet to keep working with it." He added, "If there's something you see that is only possible in Unreal, put it into the Creation Engine." PC Gamer notes fans have long blamed Bethesda's original Gamebryo and the modern Creation Engine for rocky launches, spectacular bugs, floaty combat and even what the article calls "lumpy potato faces." The outlet also warns that switching engines is highly disruptive, pointing to BioWare's struggles moving Dragon Age and Mass Effect to EA's Frostbite engine, which led to protracted development and cancelled projects.

PC Gamer suggests Bethesda's famed bugginess may be more a function of the sheer scale of its open worlds—an environment the size of Skyrim with many moving parts is extraordinarily difficult to fully debug before players start actively trying to break it.

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