4 ms·

It's a weird decision. Unreal Engine is redefining game engines into something capable of creating both movies and games, and pushing the state of the art to s

It's a weird decision. Unreal Engine is redefining game engines into something capable of creating both movies and games, and pushing the state of the art to somewhere amazing. Whilst..... Unity is laying off people and leaning into low quality advertising. It's weird also that the big players like Microsoft didn't swing in to buy Unity and do the same thing that Unreal is doing. It's like the future of high end media is being created in this space and Unity is tossing away their second place position entirely.

gibolt 4y ago
Unity is still the engine for the vast majority of 2D and 3D games, especially VR. It feels like each has filled their niche well, and they are now bifurcating to target different audiences. It doesn't seem to me like Unreal will ever capture the majority of the market, unless their tactics change.
- intelVISA 4y ago
  I would wager it's owed mostly to the mobile market dwarfing console/PC nowadays for which Unity is the de facto choice. The same way the web market gives us legions of Js devs: Unity is just the game engine ver of Node - easy to hire for and runs everywhere.
- prox 4y ago
  I am so glad I didn’t go for Unity but Godot. I know it’s playing catch-up but it’s been a joy to work with. Not sure what to think of Unity.
  - Schinken_ 4y ago
    For anyone interested in creating games. I can only second this. Been using Unity for work and hobby purposes since Unity 5 and feel its always been undecided on how to do things. Even more so now than back then. With Godot I've never had the feeling that I'm working against the engine to achieve something. Godot has one, maybe two different ways of doing something. If more than one, there are usually obvious tradeoffs between the two ways.
pavlov 4y ago
Meta would love to buy Unity, it has been on Zuckerberg's radar for almost a decade: https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/13/facebook-mulled-multi-billion-dollar-acquisition-of-unity-book-claims/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/13/facebook-mulled-multi-bill... But in practice they can't do any acquisitions anymore because of antitrust. Two recent examples: - Meta purchased a VR fitness app maker called Within, and the FTC is now blocking the sale. - Meta purchased Giphy years ago, and the UK antitrust authority now wants the sale unwound even though Giphy did no business in the UK. Multi-billion dollar acquisitions of public companies like Unity are out of the question for Meta because they're subject to a much higher standard than anyone else. Microsoft can probably get away with buying Activision Blizzard while Meta can't buy one insignificant VR game.
- bjconlan 4y ago
  This is a real shame. Meta is a company that is trying to do something (beyond Facebook) and I think a Unity acquisition would benefit both of these companies (in their current positions).
  - capableweb 4y ago
    Is it? Facebook is trying to "take over" areas not at all related to social media in order to gain more data and could act as a loss-leader in the game developer space just in order to bolster market share in other areas. Preventing that seems to be better for consumers in general.
    - impulser_ 4y ago
      Isn't that what Microsoft is doing as well? If Microsoft is allowed to buy Activision Blizzard they would have bought the vast majority of the most popular video game series in the world. Minecraft, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Elder Scrolls are all top selling game franchises. The only company that would have more top selling game franchise would be Nintendo and they created all of them for themselves. Why is Microsoft allowed to buy all of these game studios but Facebook can't buy a single VR studio?
nottorp 4y ago
Unreal/Epic have taken free to play money already. It was Unity's turn i guess.
MikusR 4y ago
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7655460/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7655460/ made in unity https://blog.unity.com/entertainment/neill-blomkamp-on-what-unitys-volumetric-capture-brought-to-his-new-horror-film https://blog.unity.com/entertainment/neill-blomkamp-on-what-... https://blog.unity.com/entertainment/bugsbot-g-the-first-korean-tv-animation-series-made-with-unity https://blog.unity.com/entertainment/bugsbot-g-the-first-kor...
WorldMaker 4y ago
There were alleged rumors that Microsoft did try to acquire Unity at one point. It takes two to tango and the allegation was always that Unity wasn't interested in selling to Microsoft. The impression that I have is that Unity didn't get to this "weird ad company with a game engine byproduct" by accident, they seem to have had board members where this was their exit in mind all along and the (weird, gross) direction they intended to move the company.

gibolt 4y ago

Unity is still the engine for the vast majority of 2D and 3D games, especially VR. It feels like each has filled their niche well, and they are now bifurcating to target different audiences. It doesn't seem to me like Unreal will ever capture the majority of the market, unless their tactics change.

intelVISA 4y ago
I would wager it's owed mostly to the mobile market dwarfing console/PC nowadays for which Unity is the de facto choice. The same way the web market gives us legions of Js devs: Unity is just the game engine ver of Node - easy to hire for and runs everywhere.
prox 4y ago
I am so glad I didn’t go for Unity but Godot. I know it’s playing catch-up but it’s been a joy to work with. Not sure what to think of Unity.
- Schinken_ 4y ago
  For anyone interested in creating games. I can only second this. Been using Unity for work and hobby purposes since Unity 5 and feel its always been undecided on how to do things. Even more so now than back then. With Godot I've never had the feeling that I'm working against the engine to achieve something. Godot has one, maybe two different ways of doing something. If more than one, there are usually obvious tradeoffs between the two ways.

pavlov 4y ago

Meta would love to buy Unity, it has been on Zuckerberg's radar for almost a decade: https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/13/facebook-mulled-multi-billion-dollar-acquisition-of-unity-book-claims/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/13/facebook-mulled-multi-bill... But in practice they can't do any acquisitions anymore because of antitrust. Two recent examples: - Meta purchased a VR fitness app maker called Within, and the FTC is now blocking the sale. - Meta purchased Giphy years ago, and the UK antitrust authority now wants the sale unwound even though Giphy did no business in the UK. Multi-billion dollar acquisitions of public companies like Unity are out of the question for Meta because they're subject to a much higher standard than anyone else. Microsoft can probably get away with buying Activision Blizzard while Meta can't buy one insignificant VR game.

bjconlan 4y ago
This is a real shame. Meta is a company that is trying to do something (beyond Facebook) and I think a Unity acquisition would benefit both of these companies (in their current positions).
- capableweb 4y ago
  Is it? Facebook is trying to "take over" areas not at all related to social media in order to gain more data and could act as a loss-leader in the game developer space just in order to bolster market share in other areas. Preventing that seems to be better for consumers in general.
  - impulser_ 4y ago
    Isn't that what Microsoft is doing as well? If Microsoft is allowed to buy Activision Blizzard they would have bought the vast majority of the most popular video game series in the world. Minecraft, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Elder Scrolls are all top selling game franchises. The only company that would have more top selling game franchise would be Nintendo and they created all of them for themselves. Why is Microsoft allowed to buy all of these game studios but Facebook can't buy a single VR studio?

nottorp 4y ago

Unreal/Epic have taken free to play money already. It was Unity's turn i guess.

MikusR 4y ago

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7655460/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7655460/ made in unity https://blog.unity.com/entertainment/neill-blomkamp-on-what-unitys-volumetric-capture-brought-to-his-new-horror-film https://blog.unity.com/entertainment/neill-blomkamp-on-what-... https://blog.unity.com/entertainment/bugsbot-g-the-first-korean-tv-animation-series-made-with-unity https://blog.unity.com/entertainment/bugsbot-g-the-first-kor...

WorldMaker 4y ago

There were alleged rumors that Microsoft did try to acquire Unity at one point. It takes two to tango and the allegation was always that Unity wasn't interested in selling to Microsoft. The impression that I have is that Unity didn't get to this "weird ad company with a game engine byproduct" by accident, they seem to have had board members where this was their exit in mind all along and the (weird, gross) direction they intended to move the company.