Unreal Engine 5’s new Lumen feature could aid Switch 2
Epic Games added Lumen Irradiance Cache to Unreal Engine 5’s main development branch last week, offering developers a less demanding alternative to the standard Hardware Lumen lighting system. The probe-based mode delivers reduced occlusion detail and weaker reflections but provides acceptable visual quality for devices with limited processing power. A deleted GitHub commit indicated the feature accelerates the Lumen gather stage by 2.5 times and speeds overall Lumen Scene performance by 1.5 times.
The technology could enable Nintendo Switch 2 games to use Unreal Engine 5’s advanced lighting features for the first time. Current Switch 2 titles built with the engine, such as Cronos: The New Dawn, lack Lumen support because the console’s processor cannot maintain acceptable frame rates with the demanding feature enabled. Fortnite also runs without Lumen and Nanite on the platform, demonstrating the need for optimization work that appears to be underway with this new implementation.
