This week brought a horror story for a number of indie MMORPGs. Due to a dispute between Improbable and Unity, the development was suddenly at risk. Now, the indie teams are supposed to switch to Epic’s “Unreal Engine”. They’re enticing with $25 million.
Many indie MMORPGs are relying on this combination: Most MMORPGs currently in development are financed by small teams with limited budgets. They do not have the money to invest in their own engine, but want to create large worlds.
Thus, some teams use:
- The “Unity” engine – the engine was supposed to “democratize” the development process and be an engine for everyone
- And the technology “SpatialOS” from Improbable – which is supposed to enable small teams to create huge worlds.
Some interesting “indie MMORPGs” that we have reported on at MeinMMO over the past few years rely on this combination: such as Worlds Adrift or Fractured.
That was the nightmare news: But this week, a dispute between exactly these two companies shook the indie world.
The two companies are publicly waging a war.
- Improbable accused Unity of changing their Terms of Service so that they are no longer compatible with SpatialOS. Therefore, games that are developed with Unity and SpatialOS now have to close.
- Unity, on the other hand, accused Improbable of blowing the conflict out of proportion and taking it public. Games that are already in development would not be affected by the change. Improbable knows that too.
This is how indie developers reacted: This news hit the teams developing their indie MMORPGs hard.
- The creators behind Fractured said: “Things were looking very, very good – until now. […] If this situation does not resolve, we might have to close.”
- The developers behind the game “Lazerus” even took their game offline for a short time.
- At Worlds Adrift, they spoke of a “situation” that they hope will be resolved soon.
SpatialOS is now pushing Unreal Engine
What happens now: The situation is still confused. Both parties appear to be at odds.
- Unity maintains that the problem is being exaggerated. The change would have no effect on games that are in development or already live.
- Improbable continues to make serious accusations against Unity. It is said that it is now difficult to support developers continuing to use the Unity engine.
Improbable has entered a deal with Epic and wants to convince the indie developers using SpatialOS to switch from Unity to the “Unreal Engine”. For this purpose, they have established a fund of $25 million: a “transition” fund.
In a joint blog post (via unrealengine.com), Tim Sweeney (Epic Games) and Herman Narula (Improbable) explain their connection through shared goals. They accuse Unity of putting developers in an insecure position with their changes. They speak of a “limbo.”
The $25 million is supposed to help developers switch to other “more open” platforms and ecosystems.
This means: It could be that some MMORPGs that are currently using Unity and SpatialOS will look different in the future. Of course, only if they dare to make the leap to another engine.
Some developers are already complaining that they have never used another engine than “Unity”. So it could be that the development of some projects will now be delayed.
We are curious how the situation will develop.
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