I like to see it as a design issue too, there are too many people who simply throw Open World around like its a small achievable goal for everyone and often Epic cops the brunt of it when the developers work out (through no fault of the tools) its not as easy as they thought it would be. If the designers were doing their job instead of buying into buzz then perhaps solutions to the problem that dont require huge work arounds could be found, like simply opting for a less ambitious environment scale to focus on what matters… Gameplay!
There are alot of issues that come with the production of an open world game that people just dont seem to appreciate and the technicalities of dynamic lighting being just one of many. Epic IMO already focus too much on open world to the detriment of other design types as it funnels resources away and ends up making tools for very specific problem and not more generic tools which have larger uses.
I dont want to sound too cynical but as soon as I hear Open World Survival these days I do an eye roll, its like the new MMO for startups, you got to ask yourself if its worth pursuing this type of project, if youre doing it because its what you think would benefit the industry or yourself. Its a shame some people have to learn the hard way its not all about them and a boolean from Epic to make my game technically great for me button isnt happening for any of us DGI or not, Id much prefer to see them focus on issues that have the biggest impact for all instead of getting sidetracked with features which offer very little real world benefit and production speed increases 