[=Midnight640;61586]
That would be so baaad. I support your opinion 100% non-serious developers (NSD) will ruin UE4.
We have a joke about a Uni in my country:
“Q: Why does this Uni have a fence around the building?”
“A: Because if it didn’t even the street dogs would get a diploma!”
So we do have to protect UE4 a.k.a. keep the entry barrier a bit higher. The person that really wants to build a game will find a way, the NSD will find an excuse …
What do you think?
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I actually disagree here, although I definitely understand where you guys are coming from on this. Thing is, Unreal Engine may be much easier to use than other engines but it is still an engine, so while getting some less serious developers will happen, we won’t really be seeing people who are completely clueless as to how game engines work. With that said, I think selling it on steam is a fairly good idea, as it will likely put the engine in front of many who weren’t informed about the new EaaS and pricing structure, especially those who casually mess around with other engines like Unity, Adobe Game SDK, or Corona SDK but aren’t really very active in researching their options or other engines. There are also a lot of companies who are looking to create interactive mobile apps but aren’t knowledgeable about the gaming industry and thus wouldn’t really know much about Unreal Engine, so putting the engine on steam (which is moving heavily into selling software as opposed to just games) will help get the engine in-front of those companies, which otherwise would probably never know about Unreal Engine. Just Google mobile game development and you’ll find nothing on Unreal Engine, only Unity and Corona, so it’s unlikely that professionals looking to develop interactive applications would ever even know about Unreal Engine. That’s not to say that steam will completely change this, but the more exposure for Unreal Engine, the better.
Also its worth noting that a non-serious developer can easily become a serious one if given the right motivation, and nothing can motivate them faster than discovering an engine that is powerful, easy to use, and affordable. It has been my experience that many non-serious developers aren’t serious because they aren’t sure if creating a game is realistic - they generally fear that it might be too difficult, or worse, too expensive. Unreal Engine 4 is out to change that perception, and it’s already beginning to work. There is also the potential of getting subscribers who might just see it and decide to try it out, these subscribers might be clueless and non-serious, but you never know if they may really love it and become more serious about game development. Maybe they don’t develop games, see it on steam, and don’t buy it as they have no interest, if later in the future they decide to go into game development (maybe for a job, as a hobby, or even one specific project), they may remember seeing it on steam and that will likely be the first thing they go to.
Furthermore, gamers are notorious for being interested in what engine a new game is going to use, so putting Unreal Engine on steam where many games may come across it is a good way of showing off the engine and it’s benefits to gamers. Because unreal engine is so powerful, it will like be well received by many of these gamers, and this makes choosing Unreal Engine a no-brainer for game developers who don’t want to spend the time and money developing their own engines. This is best exemplified by the dismal public opinion of the Hero Engine after the SW:TOR fiasco. Even though BioWare used an older and less polished version of the engine, public opinion was set, and caused outrage when other companies like Zenimax Online Studios announced their intention to use Hero Engine. This public outrage caused those companies to drop the Hero Engine altogether, and pretty much ensured the loss of companies who otherwise might have considered using it in the future.
That’s my two cents anyways. BTW that joke about your university made my day, thanks for that 