I know a fair bit on this topic as well, and you're "slightly" oversimplifying the technical hurdles for the alternative solutions you're suggesting. IE, porting to another engine. Assets only account for a tiny fraction of how much work that involves. There is a fuckton of framework and functionality that you'd have to redo on another engine, especially given just how the Creative engine was designed to handle cells (my memory fails me on more specific details than that, and I haven't exactly slept well).

Netcode-wise, the rule of thumb, as I learned years ago, is that if you're going to make a multiplayer game, implement the netcode from the get-go to save yourself massive trouble and headaches later on. The game they were basing this on had gone on for over a decade without so much as a even stepping foot into multiplayer support, so obviously it was going to be a trainwreck, especially when it's rushed.

I WILL agree though that they fucked up. The project was doomed to failure based on their intended objectives. They wanted to make it a quick easy to do multiplayer project with minimal development time, and keep it as close to Fallout 4 as possible. They released it early, before they even had proper PVE content available, and then ended up stuck with a half-complete game with no long-term vision for what the game was supposed to be, resorting to pathetic microtransactions to justify its continued existence.

I know a fair bit on this topic as well, and you're grossly oversimplifying the technical hurdles for the alternative solutions you're suggesting. IE, porting to another engine. Assets only account for a tiny fraction of how much work that involves. There is a fuckton of framework and functionality that you'd have to redo on another engine, especially given just how the Creative engine was designed to handle cells (my memory fails me on more specific details than that).

And adding netcode to the game is no simple matter. The rule of thumb, as I learned years ago, is that if you're going to make a multiplayer game, implement the netcode from the get-go to save yourself massive trouble and headaches later on. The game they were basing this on had gone on for over a decade without so much as a peek into multiplayer support, so obviously it was going to be a trainwreck, especially when it's rushed.

I WILL agree though that they fucked up. The project was doomed to failure based on their intended objectives. They wanted to make it a quick easy to do multiplayer project with minimal development time, and keep it as close to Fallout 4 as possible. They released it early, before they even had proper PVE content available, and then ended up stuck with a half-complete game with no long-term vision for what the game was supposed to be, resorting to pathetic microtransactions to justify its continued existence.