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I can't help but be reminded of the people who jumped from Twitter to Threads. Ultimately, the recent wave of enshittifications of major products - Unity, Twit

by Pxtl 3y ago

I can't help but be reminded of the people who jumped from Twitter to Threads. Ultimately, the recent wave of enshittifications of major products - Unity, Twitter and Reddit off the top of my head - It's a hard reminder that lock-in and governance matters. Software is a long investment, so it's time to start thinking very hard about how the software you use is run, and how much control you have if it all goes sideways. I realize that OSS options like Godot aren't really comparable, but since Unreal's main competitor is Unity, it feels likely that Unreal could do something similar since they don't have a competitor keeping the pressure on about price anymore.

stuckinhell 3y ago
Game development is a very different space due to the extreme amount of middleware used and the fact porting between engines has been done since the 90's.
ainiriand 3y ago
Do not fool yourself here, Unreal's main competitor was never Unity, it was the different myriad of proprietary engines that exist in powerful studios, there is were the millions are. Unity could never get into that piece of business and Unreal Engine is barely scratching it.
- Pxtl 3y ago
  Yes, but Unity targeted the Indie market with "free for small unsuccessful projects and we take a small cut of sales if it takes off" first and then Unreal jumped into that market. While Unreal entered that market from the opposite direction (offering a proper, supported high-end gaming engine to replace in-house engines of AAA gaming companies) they both converged into the same market when it came to selling to small players.
  - ainiriand 3y ago
    That is also true. Not sure how much revenue any of that can generate, though.
- karim79 3y ago
  That was always the impression I had, engines such as id tech X, Frostbite, Fox Engine, etc, in my view are some examples of more "direct" competition.
Ekaros 3y ago
Also the models these companies pull are so weird, tone-deaf and impenetrable that it boggles mind. But maybe that is point. Like Unity pricing model. And then Hashicorp and what ever does competing product or offering mean...
babypuncher 3y ago
Twitter usage is down 30% and probably still declining, so I wouldn't say their enshittification saw no consequences. When something has momentum it takes a lot to slow it down, but that does not mean doing so is impossible. Unity is a different case though. Unity is retroactively applying these new terms to existing licensees, even if their game already shipped years ago. Unlike Twitter, they are directly hitting their customers wallets in a very nasty way. And unlike Twitter, Unity isn't the only well established player in its market. Already in-development projects might not switch, but this is sure to give studios pause when evaluating potential stacks for future games.

by Pxtl 3y ago

stuckinhell 3y ago

Game development is a very different space due to the extreme amount of middleware used and the fact porting between engines has been done since the 90's.

ainiriand 3y ago

Do not fool yourself here, Unreal's main competitor was never Unity, it was the different myriad of proprietary engines that exist in powerful studios, there is were the millions are. Unity could never get into that piece of business and Unreal Engine is barely scratching it.

Pxtl 3y ago
Yes, but Unity targeted the Indie market with "free for small unsuccessful projects and we take a small cut of sales if it takes off" first and then Unreal jumped into that market. While Unreal entered that market from the opposite direction (offering a proper, supported high-end gaming engine to replace in-house engines of AAA gaming companies) they both converged into the same market when it came to selling to small players.
- ainiriand 3y ago
  That is also true. Not sure how much revenue any of that can generate, though.
karim79 3y ago
That was always the impression I had, engines such as id tech X, Frostbite, Fox Engine, etc, in my view are some examples of more "direct" competition.

Ekaros 3y ago

Also the models these companies pull are so weird, tone-deaf and impenetrable that it boggles mind. But maybe that is point. Like Unity pricing model. And then Hashicorp and what ever does competing product or offering mean...

babypuncher 3y ago

Twitter usage is down 30% and probably still declining, so I wouldn't say their enshittification saw no consequences. When something has momentum it takes a lot to slow it down, but that does not mean doing so is impossible. Unity is a different case though. Unity is retroactively applying these new terms to existing licensees, even if their game already shipped years ago. Unlike Twitter, they are directly hitting their customers wallets in a very nasty way. And unlike Twitter, Unity isn't the only well established player in its market. Already in-development projects might not switch, but this is sure to give studios pause when evaluating potential stacks for future games.