"any reason Microsoft isn't sponsoring a solid open source game engine"
I can see they do this in the future tbh, given how large their xbox gaming ecosystem, this path is very make sense since they can cut cost while giving option to their studios or indie developers
Unless I missed Unity sorting a ton of stuff out, I assume they're going to have to sell themselves off for parts at some point after the runtime fee fiasco that was supposed to make them profitable lead to developers being angry or outright leaving the ecosystem. My assumption if that happens unless the DOJ gets involved for some reason is MS buys it for this reason.
I would like MS to buy them out and FOSS the engine. Maybe if they split the ad business off into its own thing.
Unity feels like a bizarre almost abusing business relationship. They can change the terms of service at will.
The licensing is confusing. Billy is a freelancer. He makes a small game for his friend company. His friends company raises a funding round.
Depending on how much money is raised, Unity is going to call Billy up and extort him to upgrade to a higher license tier.
I don't particularly like Godot, but every few months I try and learn it again.
The game engine landscape is like picking the least worst option.
All that to be fair, Unity provided a high quality game engine for effectively nothing for over a decade to the vast majority of its users. It's time to pay the piper.
I can see they do this in the future tbh, given how large their xbox gaming ecosystem, this path is very make sense since they can cut cost while giving option to their studios or indie developers