4 ms·

Creation layer of the stack: Unity or Unreal.

kizer 5y ago
Next headline: MS to acquire Epic Games? Tencent is in the way there. Really, I could see them launching their own engine. Think of all the studios and talent they have now. They have the engines behind Halo, CoD, WoW, Overwatch. Could build an Unreal competitor.
- GuB-42 5y ago
  Microsoft already has id Software! Epic Games historical competitor. id Software has Quake, Epic Games has Unreal. id Software is not the company it once was, but they still make engines. idTech 7 is their last one, powering Doom Eternal.
  - terafo 5y ago
    idTech is cutting edge tech. Their team is one of the best in the industry, second to none, competing with Epic, Insomniac and Naughty Dog. But it is not engine for general use, not now. It does one thing(FPS), and does it extremely well. But it lacks tools that you would need to create games of another genres. Things like advanced animation tools, dialogue systems, quest systems, ways to handle vast open worlds, etc. idTech would be great for Halo and Call of Duty. But it isn't great for The Elder Scrolls, Starcraft, Gears, and many different games Microsoft Studios are working on. EA already tried to make every studio to use Frostbite for every single game and ended up with disasters like Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect Andromeda.
    - fishtacos 5y ago
      >> EA already tried to make every studio to use Frostbite for every single game and ended up with disasters like Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect Andromeda. By what measure are these games considered disasters? I was under the impression they were critically well-received and sold a decent amount each. DA:I was a better game than DA:O 2, for example (at least IMO). Regardless, I fail to see what the engine has to do with anything, considering they both presented noticeable graphical and mechanical upgrades over their prequels.
      - terafo 5y ago
        Mass Effect Andromeda was a disaster. Months after release Bioware Montreal was eliminated as a separate entity. They weren't even allowed to make already planned DLCs. It became a meme because of poor quality. And a lot of blame can be put on Frostbite. Inquisition's development was a disaster due to poor tools. Pax 2013 demo, for example, was faked because no one knew what gameplay would look like(A YEAR BEFORE RELEASE), and it was mostly caused by missing engine systems. Game turned out to be OK though.
        fishtacos 5y ago
        >> And a lot of blame can be put on Frostbite. I am having a hard time understanding what the Frostbite engine had to do with any of this. Anything you can point to besides your opinion on the matter?
        terafo 5y ago
        Battlefield is a multiplayer first person shooter. It doesn't need a dialogue editor, save system, third person camera, a lot of systems that help support advanced AI, and many other things that the Bioware game would need. Hence Frostbite didn't have all these things. They needed to be developed from scratch DURING the production. Which means half of the team was unable to work properly due to the lack of tools.
        fishtacos 5y ago
        ME:A and DA:I had dialogues a save system, third person camera, etc. Why were they disasters if they were very successful in their own right? I don't understand what you are trying to get at. Seems to me the engine was perfectly capable of doing everything you wrote it can't do and both games were successful deliverables.
- Hamuko 5y ago
  Tencent and Sony have investments in Epic Games, not sure if either party wants to start selling to Microsoft.
  - skinnymuch 5y ago
    Yeah it wouldn’t happen. Them two being the two biggest gaming companies too.
HeavyStorm 5y ago
Visual Studio is still there, although losing market share
- zeusk 5y ago
  To Visual Studio Code
- pjmlp 5y ago
  There is no better alternative for Windows and console game development, except C++ Builder and Delphi. Even Google now ships VS plugins for Android game development and Stadia.
mmcconnell1618 5y ago
I'm surprised they didn't snap up Unity before it went public. C# is the main language, cross platform deployment that goes well with .NET's new cross platform story and there are strong commercial markets for Unity like Movies, TV and Architecture that could benefit from Microsoft's enterprise sales force and relationships.

Next headline: MS to acquire Epic Games? Tencent is in the way there. Really, I could see them launching their own engine. Think of all the studios and talent they have now. They have the engines behind Halo, CoD, WoW, Overwatch. Could build an Unreal competitor.

GuB-42 5y ago
Microsoft already has id Software! Epic Games historical competitor. id Software has Quake, Epic Games has Unreal. id Software is not the company it once was, but they still make engines. idTech 7 is their last one, powering Doom Eternal.
- terafo 5y ago
  idTech is cutting edge tech. Their team is one of the best in the industry, second to none, competing with Epic, Insomniac and Naughty Dog. But it is not engine for general use, not now. It does one thing(FPS), and does it extremely well. But it lacks tools that you would need to create games of another genres. Things like advanced animation tools, dialogue systems, quest systems, ways to handle vast open worlds, etc. idTech would be great for Halo and Call of Duty. But it isn't great for The Elder Scrolls, Starcraft, Gears, and many different games Microsoft Studios are working on. EA already tried to make every studio to use Frostbite for every single game and ended up with disasters like Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect Andromeda.
  - fishtacos 5y ago
    >> EA already tried to make every studio to use Frostbite for every single game and ended up with disasters like Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect Andromeda. By what measure are these games considered disasters? I was under the impression they were critically well-received and sold a decent amount each. DA:I was a better game than DA:O 2, for example (at least IMO). Regardless, I fail to see what the engine has to do with anything, considering they both presented noticeable graphical and mechanical upgrades over their prequels.
    - terafo 5y ago
      Mass Effect Andromeda was a disaster. Months after release Bioware Montreal was eliminated as a separate entity. They weren't even allowed to make already planned DLCs. It became a meme because of poor quality. And a lot of blame can be put on Frostbite. Inquisition's development was a disaster due to poor tools. Pax 2013 demo, for example, was faked because no one knew what gameplay would look like(A YEAR BEFORE RELEASE), and it was mostly caused by missing engine systems. Game turned out to be OK though.
      - fishtacos 5y ago
        >> And a lot of blame can be put on Frostbite. I am having a hard time understanding what the Frostbite engine had to do with any of this. Anything you can point to besides your opinion on the matter?
        terafo 5y ago
        Battlefield is a multiplayer first person shooter. It doesn't need a dialogue editor, save system, third person camera, a lot of systems that help support advanced AI, and many other things that the Bioware game would need. Hence Frostbite didn't have all these things. They needed to be developed from scratch DURING the production. Which means half of the team was unable to work properly due to the lack of tools.
        fishtacos 5y ago
        ME:A and DA:I had dialogues a save system, third person camera, etc. Why were they disasters if they were very successful in their own right? I don't understand what you are trying to get at. Seems to me the engine was perfectly capable of doing everything you wrote it can't do and both games were successful deliverables.
Hamuko 5y ago
Tencent and Sony have investments in Epic Games, not sure if either party wants to start selling to Microsoft.
- skinnymuch 5y ago
  Yeah it wouldn’t happen. Them two being the two biggest gaming companies too.

HeavyStorm 5y ago

Visual Studio is still there, although losing market share

zeusk 5y ago
To Visual Studio Code
pjmlp 5y ago
There is no better alternative for Windows and console game development, except C++ Builder and Delphi. Even Google now ships VS plugins for Android game development and Stadia.

mmcconnell1618 5y ago

I'm surprised they didn't snap up Unity before it went public. C# is the main language, cross platform deployment that goes well with .NET's new cross platform story and there are strong commercial markets for Unity like Movies, TV and Architecture that could benefit from Microsoft's enterprise sales force and relationships.