At a conceptual level, it makes 100% sense that companies are moving away from bespoke engines and towards a standardized engine. This is something you see in many different industries. Spending a whole bunch of money and effort when 95% of your requirements are the same as everyone else is a bit silly.
However, you’re completely right that there’s the same danger as in other industries where the ‘boring software infrastructure’ gets standardized and outsourced: a niche monopoly able to exploit their position. What tends to happen in the long run is an open source project for that infrastructure run by an NGO with the industry members (in this case AAA game companies) on the board of directors.
Even disregarding the long-term problems, I fear for the days when every single game looks the same because their developers decide that UE5 knows best and that there’s no way photorealism gets in the way of artistic direction
… hell, even in stylized UE5 games, I don’t know how or why but I can feel the UE5ness
At a conceptual level, it makes 100% sense that companies are moving away from bespoke engines and towards a standardized engine. This is something you see in many different industries. Spending a whole bunch of money and effort when 95% of your requirements are the same as everyone else is a bit silly.
However, you’re completely right that there’s the same danger as in other industries where the ‘boring software infrastructure’ gets standardized and outsourced: a niche monopoly able to exploit their position. What tends to happen in the long run is an open source project for that infrastructure run by an NGO with the industry members (in this case AAA game companies) on the board of directors.
Even disregarding the long-term problems, I fear for the days when every single game looks the same because their developers decide that UE5 knows best and that there’s no way photorealism gets in the way of artistic direction
… hell, even in stylized UE5 games, I don’t know how or why but I can feel the UE5ness
A lot of these developers would be better off in the long run working in Godot and submitting PR’s for fixes and updates that they need