https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/10/...lion-fund-to-transition-devs-away-from-unity/
, and now competitor Epic Games is turning up the heat. Unity is cutting off future support for the online-multiplayer development platform SpatialOS from accessing its game-development toolkit. Improbable, the owner and operator of SpatialOS, posted a blog about this corporate spat and claimed this move threatens developers. In response, Unreal company Epic and Improbable revealed a $25 million fund for Unity devs. The companies plan to grant that cash to studios that leave Unity for other tools.
Epic boss Tim Sweeney and Improbable chief Herman Narula penned a joint blog this evening. In that post, they claim Unity is springing this change on developers. And they want to help developers that they claim Unity is hurting.
"To assist developers who are left in limbo by the new engine and service incompatibilities that were introduced today, Epic Games and Improbable are together establishing a $25 million combined fund to help developers transition to more open engines, services, and ecosystems," Sweeney and Narula wrote. "This funding will come from a variety of sources including Unreal Dev Grants, Improbable developer assistance funds, and Epic Games store funding."
Unity and Unreal are direct competitors. A significant number of indie developers use one or the other to make their games. And if a studio uses those engines they have to pay licensing fees or a share of revenue.
Epic is taking this opportunity to highlight one of the differences between itself and Unity. Unreal is slightly more open. And the company is using its Fortnite-fortified bank account to win over some converts.
