This actually sounds pretty believable/positive/likely although I still find it a little sus that they'd talk of how great the old assets/areas look in the new engine while we've still only seen screenshots/video that looks like vague dabblings with the demo level you get with Unreal 5.... Still MA will be MA... doesn't really matter if we believe them or not.
I found this post while looking for the older thread on Unreal as was going to post something there about Unreal 5 dev but this seems as good a place as any. Note this is from someone else working on an entirely different game and in their case they are talking of moving from version 4 to version 5 and are finding the differences are large enough to be causing a huge amount of work for a re-write. They also have almost no developer resource unlike MA.
This said I still thought it was an interesting incite into Unreal development that may interest others here. I think in MA's case this other dev's issues are kinda irrelevant as MA are shifting from a totally different engine, so they'd have known from the outset life would be totally different to jump engines.
How can I put it, MA would have known they'd have to re-do everything (or build transfer software as it sounds like they've opted for) where as these other guys, it sounds like they were kinda assuming they'd be driving an automatic and got a 18 wheeler truck with 25 gears to work with...
Anyhow, don't shoot me, this is just an anecdotal incite into someone else's issues with UE5. I've edited it slightly.
For people that think they know anything about UE5: You don't when it comes to [what we have to work on]. You know about the generic layout that UE5 presents as a starter example. It is much different when you are coding it from scratch and trying to recreate an existing product. The main reason for this is because said existing product, even if created by UE4, is COMPLETELY incompatible with UE5.
Example: The debuff given for movement speed when you fall from a height greater than the value stated in UE4 is pulled from a "pool" of reoccurring common "if/else".So: Fall value max is 20, and you fall from 30. This pops a reach out to this "pool" and the branches determine that you take X hp damage, and receive the movement debuff for X seconds. Then it processes to show the debuff icon on your UI, and then waits for the next triggered interaction.
In UE5: 0% of this set up is transferrable. You have to set up a different "pool" for each variable event due to the interactions involved with the core engine. Actions are constantly being triggered due to the way the environment interacts with the target, not the other way around. This is what gives UE5 it's diversity. You literally can program a wind effect to crash a character because you didn't account for the clothing/armor sway direction. So in other words, falling from a height exceeding action value has now become a multi layered issue just to complete that one thing.
In UE4: Not counting the pool because it was already created, creating variables surrounding actionable interactions took about 2 hours to write, test, deploy.
In UE5: To do the same, with rewriting it's own separate function pool, and temporarily coding environmental reactions/effects- about 2 days. This is because you are forced to go in and change and verify other pools and interaction functions when you encounter an error, and cannot proceed until that error is resolved so everything functions smoothly.
Imagine if you constantly had an absolute micro manager boss overlooking every detail and thing you did, work related or not at your job. That's a good start for a UE5 engine comparison. You also cannot escape, ignore, or override this micro managing boss, you are forced to conform to their directives.
This is why UE5 is such a PITA to work with. It's completely unforgiving. Beautiful, versatile, and amazing, but unforgiving, and why upgrading a project is a daunting task for a building full of coders. We're doing it with 1/100th of that.
As I said, this is someone else's experience of working with a UE4 to UE5 conversion where as MA are going from Cryengine2 to UE5. Very different kettle of fish and all the Unreal stuff would be new to them so such fustrations would probably just seem like "that's the way it is - what's the problem?" rather than "arrgh why did everything change?"
If you get my meaning? Anyhow, hope someone found it interesting
Wistrel