first calling OP/dev an imbecile looks like trolling to me. second no offense but the post you made contains lot of errors.
first as explained before, not switching to UE5 which offers more powerful tools would only be made by (again no offense) an imbecile, or someone that has no clue of development under UE. third you say there are no tuts for UE5, this is false. they're hundreds of tuts on Epic sites as well as on Youtube.
the problem is that most of people who critizise have no clue of what it is to develop a game. especially open worlds. most people think watch youtube, do few extra hours after you main job, and do a great game. developping a game is very complex thing. not difficult but extremelly time consuming. this is why i think anyone trying to make a video game should be respected before bashed. getting stick with UE4 has a name, it's called suicide.
I don't want to derail that thread into something too technical neither. if OP, or a mod think the things are getting too technical, and this is not the place to discuss of those things, just tell me
That is a lot of markeing bs. The sheer number of UE4 tuts is huge just coz there was enough time for thousands of people to try it, play with it, to ask questions and to get answers. UE5 will never get there - just because it is too young - and those clowns already mentioned UE6 prerelease a few times. And because of prices shitshow - nowadays UE5 project require more expensive hardware. And because the ancient art of Optimization is almost forbidden knowledge now - nobody gives a f about it.
"More powerful tools" - literally a citation from Epic marketing wordflood. WHAT TOOLS EXACTLY?
No, let me rephrase it. What are those powerful ue5 tools, that they will make a difference in INDIE PORN GAME ? Let me tell you a secret - nobody will mourn if there will be 100 polygons in every tree in a forest instead of 500 polygons. Raytracing? Automatically placed lights instead of point light placed by hands? Nobody gives a f. Even if there will be no actual lights and shadows in caves, but there will be hot encounters - nobody will give a damn.
It is not AAAAAAAA title (according to the Yves Guillemot scale).
Nanites are good thing - if you have a squadron of fulltime Epic Game devs in your pocket, available on demand. Same with Lumen. Same with 60% marketing shit. Not because it is bad - but because it is required in very different kind of projects. Immersive sims. Titles from 2000 employes studios, or huge companies who try to sell another version PrayStationStitchBox XIX.
This is a porn game from indie studio. People expect different kind of things from games like that.
A-a-and - hardware thing again. UE5 and UE4 have different system requirements. And according to steam statistics, top tier hadware is not majority among the players around a world. Lower system requirements = more potential customers.
If people do stupid shit, they are called stupid. Sad but true. When peolpe do stupid shit and other people don't call them stupid - concord is born. Or Skull-n-bones. Or AC Shadows. Their number is legion.
Can this game be optimized perfectly? Of course! Will indie studio have enough resources to do that? I doubt it. It is very hard work without obvious results.
Even big companies fail to optimize modern projects more often than not - because from the point of earning money it is better to start new project, than to polish an older one.