Why is Unity the most popular engine?
Unity became popular because Microsoft brought all of the world’s small-time game developers into one place with XNA (enormous marketing push, high profile, big product claims) and then subsequently vanished into thin air. Unity at that time was simply the nearest body having significant mass (free to use and powerful) and like a black hole sucked all of these small time developers up. Unity remains popular because it allows people to make games quickly and put them out quickly, which for many of these people making quality products is not a major concern, it is simply the act of making games and retaining status as a “developer” or making a small amount of money that is important to them. Unity is like a shotgun, load it up with a shell of a game and pull the trigger and you can hit multiple target platforms. It’s popular among hobbyists and amateurs because it makes a lot of bang for your buck.
Why don’t people switch to Unreal?
For the games most people are making (small scope, poor quality, 2D, mobile) they don’t need the extra horse power. For those who do wish to make 3D games, they like to constantly demand features that Unreal already has and seem more interested in being part of an angry movement than they are in actually making any games. All of this because Unity has an almost cult-like following, it’s like an online, virtual democratic society. Unreal may be better-suited for the task of making video games than Unity, but that is not enough to make people switch because making games is not the focus for most Unity users. For example, recently Unity changed its forum software. This sparked a revolution, which called for people to be fired and to commit suicide as an act of penance. Unity had to revert software. The community cannot be satisfied. If things remain the same, people will call for change. If things change, people will call for blood. Unity tolerates this and puts up with it because they are making money hand-over-fist. And that’s perhaps the most important point. Unity tolerates a lot. People feel comfortable with Unity because it will accept any person into the community, no matter their experience level or the quality of games they have produced… or if they are even game developers. Maybe that’s the most important point? A lot of Unity users aren’t really game developers, but for $1500.00 or $75/month they are officially pro game developers. They have a receipt to prove it.
When you look at the sheer amount of bad games that are out there, it should be clear: you don’t want to be a part of the majority. Unreal is clearly a better product and it doesn’t carry the stigma that “Made with Unity” does. When you think about it, the main reason you pay for Unity Pro is to hide the fact that you are a unity developer (eliminate the splash screen). When you consider that fact alone, there can be no objective, rational reason why Unity is more popular, now can there?