Is Unity a Good Game Engine: What Do People Like about Unity?

Game Designer at RetroStyle Games | Jan 13, 2024

Among Us, Rust, Pokemon GO… Everyone has heard about these games before. But what unifies them? The answer is straightforward: all these games were created with Unity Engine.

With its friendly and intuitive interface and ease of use, Unity became the outstanding decision for all sizes of studios from indie to large game companies. It’s not surprising at all: Unity supports development not only for multiple platforms (such as PC, iOS, Android, consoles, etc.) but also for 2D, 3D, VR, and AR games. And it’s only the beginning! Unity Engine has a strong community of developers, a special Unity Asset Store, and great graphics with unique rendering capabilities. Stunning, isn’t it?

One more important thing about Unity is its constant adaptation to trends and game developers’ needs. For instance, the past few years were remembered for the growth of multiplatform games, longer game lifespans, and, unfortunately, the decline of in-app purchases. What did Unity do? They gathered data from more than 230,000 Unity game developers and ads data spanning over 423,000 developers on multiple platforms.

Due to this huge research, today we can tell you about the best business decisions for developers and publishers. And, what’s even more important, we’ll finally answer the question ‘Is Unity the best game engine?‘

Unity's Features for Modern Game Development

When someone starts talking about Unity’s features, mostly the topic is about high-quality graphics, visual scripting systems, or built-in analytics. But what about advanced cross-platform support and integration? Or expanded asset store with diverse resources? These options are what make Unity a good game engine.

As it was mentioned before, cross-platform games become more and more popular every year. We agree with Matt Wyble, the EVP of product and business at Second Dinner: players want to be able to play on whatever device they have.

Nowadays, 88% of studios with more than 50 people are making games for multiple platforms. You may say: “What if I work on my game by myself? In this case, I can’t create a game for mobile platforms and PC at the same time, right?” Unity Engine took care of this too. Such instruments as Game Server Hosting, Matchmaker, and Cloud Content Delivery help studios of all sizes enable cross-platform play more efficiently.

As everyone knows, the Unity Asset Store offers a vast collection of assets, plugins, and tools that can be easily integrated into projects, saving time and enhancing development efficiency. Instead of devoting in-house resources to asset development, studios can focus on gameplay, and it’s very cool!

Unity Asset Store for Cost-Effective Game Development

What people also like about Unity is the absence of the need to start every project from scratch. Yves Hohler, the cofounder of Broken Arms Games, says that:

It’s better to spend a hundred dollars on the Unity Asset Store instead of doing something that would cost twenty or thirty thousand dollars and two to three months to develop.

Our team totally agrees with this statement. Even statistics confirm that with the use of Unity Asset Store, studios can ship games 20% faster.

Our team also has our assets at the Unity Asset Store. Our main goal is to deliver quality artwork and boost your game or app sales. Our packs can help you with that! There you can find so many interesting arts: frightening motorbikes and jeeps, bright and memorable cyberpunk characters, brave historical warriors, and even more. Also, we’re always working on something new so don’t forget to stay tuned ;)

Enhanced Scalability and Optimized Performance

Without these two aspects, a smooth run of the games on a variety of platforms and devices will be impossible. And the best approach to achieve unbelievable results is building liveops. More than 45% of studios incorporate liveops in the first month of game production.

How to increase FPS from 15 to 70 using Unity Job System

But why LiveOps solutions so significant? Long story short, they:

enable studios to manage backend data;
gain player insights;
deliver content.

Unity and the Shift in Game Development Trends

Unity was always well-known for its fascinating adaptability to modern trends. Among them are cross-platform development, VR and AR, data-oriented technology stack, and green development. Of course, it’s just a beginning but even these 4 trends perfectly reflect Unity’s commitment to staying at the forefront of the game development industry. But what really helps Unity Engine to stand out among other engines is its focus on indie game development and 2D/3D titles.

Unity: The Ultimate Platform for 2D and 3D Game Creation

While Unreal Engine is mostly associated with 3D AAA titles, Unity excels in both 2D and 3D game development. They understand that 3D isn’t always better than 2D, and 2D games are still popular. For Unity, there aren’t any difficulties in creating outstanding realistic 3D characters or environments. All you should know is just how to make game art. Everything else can easily be done with Unity’s tools.

Due to this, it’s understandable why Unity Engine remains the world’s leading platform for content creators of all sizes. They’re always ready to prepare a set of appropriate solutions and support game developers through the entire development lifecycle. It doesn’t matter whether you’re building a 2D platformer or a 3D survival runner. In all cases, you will get quality content for mobile phones, tablets, PCs, consoles, and augmented or virtual reality devices.

Unity DevOps: A Game-Changer for Indie and Midsize Studios

Do you still have questions about whether Unity is a good engine? What if we tell you that Unity knows how to keep projects organized? This isn’t a joke: 47% of indies and 59% of midsize studios started to use DevOps to release quickly.

The most popular Unity’s DevOps tools are Unity Build Automation and Unity Version Control. There are some things DevOps instruments can easily help companies of all sizes with:

make quicker releases;
quality improvements;
decrease indie game development costs;
scale infrastructure and development processes;
improve communication and collaboration.

Unity's Impact on AR and VR Development Timelines

It’s hard to keep silent about the fact that without Unity we would never know the AR/VR games as we know them now. They allow comprehensive AR/VR support and offer various AR and VR assets, plugins, and tools. Actually, the ones that make Unity a good game engine are premade tools and art resources.

55% of indies are using assets within the first two weeks of starting an AR or VR project. Also, 58% of studios of any size use assets in the first two weeks of game development.

Enhanced Support and Resources for Unity Developers

Unity continues to support game developers and artists every day. Here are some of their last updates:

Practice Guides for Optimizing Mobile, Console, and PS Games

There is one obvious thing: optimization will always be extremely significant. So, Unity has prepared 2 special guides Optimize your game performance for mobile and Optimize your game performance for consoles and PC. With the latest updates from Unity 2022 LTS and a list of useful tips and strategies, you will never have problems with optimization anymore. To prove the relevance of this project, it was made up of professional Unity software engineers.

New Demo for Programmers and Artists

Have you already heard about UI Toolkit? This educational sample provides a lot of instruments for developing scalable runtime UI for games and applications, custom extensions for the Unity Editor, and runtime debugging game design tools. Sounds fantastic and it’s completely free! And remember: we are still talking about one of the best free 2D game engines.

Unity Asset Manager Beta

It’s time to talk about 3D content development. Unity Asset Manager is a digital asset management tool that provides a single source of truth for both owned and licensed content. Why you should start working with this instrument from now on? With its help, you can:

manage your project’s 3D assets with simple upload tools, metadata tagging, and version history;

visualize assets with the web viewer and collaborate with comments and annotations on any 3D asset.

build cloud-connected applications with a ready-to-use reference project for viewing and collaborating on cloud-hosted 3D assets.

And even more! See? Do you need any other proof that Unity is the best 3D game engine for Android, iOS, PC, and all other platforms?

Weighing Unity's Advantages and Challenges in 2023

Of course, we can say for a million times that Unity is the best game engine, and Unity games are the most unforgettable and outstanding titles in the gaming world. But it still has some advantages and some challenges a lot of game developers enjoy or struggle with every day.

Current Advantages in Game Development with Unity

Cross-Platform Development

Of course, we’ve been talking about this advantage a lot of times in this article but it’s worth it! Developers can easily create games for PC, consoles, mobile devices, VR/AR, and more.

Large and Active Community

What does a lot of developers in one place mean? A wealth of online resources, forums, tutorials, and collaborative opportunities!

Asset Store

As we already told you, Unity Asset Store is one of the biggest advantages of this engine. With a wide range of assets, plugins, and tools, developers can easily enhance their projects and save time in the development process.

Less Coding with C#

C# isn’t the easiest language. However, it is flexible and allows developers to implement complex game logic efficiently.

Continuous Updates and Innovations

What game developers like about Unity are their consistent updates and new features. Due to that, every Unity game is up-to-date with the latest industry trends and technologies.

Advantages of Focusing on Mobile in Game Development

The increase in the production of mobile-only games is one of the main trends that has remained constant over the past few years. Jatin Mittal, the user acquisition team lead of TapNation, mentions there are a few reasons studios are focusing on mobile nowadays. It’s quick to make, the potential audience is larger due to accessibility, and there’s less cost involved in making the prototype.

People also want to communicate with each other more and more. Mobile games with their huge potential user base can easily give this opportunity to them. As a result, large studios have seen the most growth in mobile-only games since 2021 at 44% which is a fascinating number. Game developers should understand that the time of PC AAA titles has already gone. Right now it’s the era of AAA mobile games in the pocket.

Unity Reduces Game Development Timelines

As we’ve already mentioned, Unity helps developers to focus on the gameplay rather than any other aspects. Due to this approach, at least 62% of indies and 58% of midsize studios are now making games in less than a year, compared to half a decade in the past.

Also, developers at indie, midsize, and lower midmarket studios started to work 1.2% fewer hours. It may sound like something non-important but shipping of new titles becomes more and more attainable for many studios.

Magic of Unity: Workflow Improvements, Trends

Why do we love this? Why Unity is a good game engine? Is it just a technical point of view or there is something else?

Of course, it's because Unity's software engineers always understand us, game developers. They always know our desires and our needs.

From staying abreast of industry trends to fostering a community-driven environment, custom Unity game development services become better with every year.

And we’re proud to be a part of the community, part of this excellent system.

Some Workflow Improvements:

Unity’s Bolt visual scripting tool streamlines the coding process, making it accessible to non-programmers. By that, designers and artists can contribute directly to the development process.
Unity Collaborate simplifies version control and collaboration, facilitating seamless teamwork. Cloud Build automates the build process, reducing manual tasks and ensuring consistent builds across different platforms.

Some Unity Trends:

DOTS is a significant trend in Unity, offering a framework for optimized performance through efficient data processing. This aligns with the industry’s push for more complex and realistic simulations in games.
Unity’s support for machine learning and AI technologies caters to the trend of creating dynamic game environments. This allows developers to implement advanced AI behaviors and improve gameplay experiences.

So, why do we like Unity? For the trends? Yes! For continuous updates? Yes! Something else? Of course collaborative and supportive community! Unity not only provides the tools for game development but also serves as a platform that inspires creativity and innovation. It doesn’t matter what game you want to create: Unity stays the best engine for isometric games, platformers, runners, puzzles, and more… This is what we call the Unity’s magic!

Unity Business model & Market Share

Regarding unity game engine market size, we can talk about the following trends based on research:

Easy-to-use and free game engine

Unity Technologies has strategically positioned Unity to dominate the market for game development by catering to everyday game makers through accessible and ‘free’ all-in-one game engines.

This strategy has made it possible for more people to create games and has also brought more game development under Unity’s control, following its rules and business plans. Because of this, Unity has gained a large part of the worldwide game industry’s creative work.

C. Young: Unity Production: Capturing the Everyday Game Maker Market

Unity market share

The Unity 3D engine is preferred by most game developers, holding a 25% market share. Its popularity comes from its easy and quick development process, which helps quickly make game prototypes.

The study looks into whether it’s essential to use Unity for making simple 2D mobile games, shedding light on how Unity affects education and its advantages for new developers who want to make 2D mobile games

Brett & Simons: Implementation of the Unity Engine for Developing 2D Mobile Games in Consideration of Start-Up/Student Developers

Mobile devices

Almost 2 billion mobile devices have a game made with Unity, showing its large market share, especially among new companies choosing Unity for mobile game development.

The study examines making a 2D multiplayer game with Unity, pointing out the engine’s easy-to-use tools and how it helps teams develop games for various mobile platforms

B.P, Somesh, Sharath, & Kumaresan: 2D Multiplayer Game Development Using Unity

RetroStyle Games team: The Best Engine for Mobile Games

Tools/Generative AI in our Unity Workflow

As we’ve been working with Unity for a lot of years, we already have our Unity workflow. Due to this, nowadays we can provide outstanding game art AI services. Want to know what tools do we use? Read the text below ;)

Leonardo.Ai

Leonardo.Ai was designed to assist artists and developers by generating high-quality 2D and 3D art assets using AI. Our team often uses this tool for creating textures, images, and even 3D models.

Polyhive: Texture 3D Assets with AI

Polyhive focuses on generating 3D textures using AI. We like this tool because it saves time and effort in the asset creation process. Also, Polyhive provides a valuable resource for obtaining unique 3D assets with customized textures.

AutoGen - AI Skybox

We don’t use AutoGen – AI Skybox often but it was designed to generate dynamic and realistic skyboxes using AI. For setting the atmosphere in games, Skyboxes are very important, and using AI helps to achieve better results.

Shap-E - Text-to-3D

Shap-E – Text-to-3D is a tool designed for converting text input into 3D models. We don’t think this instrument is useful for us but some people like it a lot.

How User-Generated Content is Transforming Unity Games

User-generated content has become a transformative force in the world of Unity games, bringing about significant changes in how games are created, experienced, and sustained. Especially we enjoy UGC from GenieLabs AI. With its power, the gaming experience can be enhanced, and control over the content can be consistently maintained.

And players can enjoy the game even more when it’s possible to create playable content by themselves. The pleasant bonus is they can have money for their unique projects because GenieLabs allows the establishment of a marketplace for players. Also, you can start just in 3 steps! For us, it sounds impossible but it’s the power of AI.

The creators of GenieLabs say that it’s much easier for game developers to allow players to create game content by themselves rather than work for years on thousands of DLCs. Also, this approach helped to extend the lifespan of existing games by 33% which is a very good result.

Monetization in Unity: Evolving Strategies and Tips

Nowadays, players don’t have a strong preference between ads and in-app purchases. So, the best advice is to experiment and A/B test monetization strategies to see what works best.

But you may ask: “How do I know what revenue model shifts work the best? Are mobile games profitable or I should focus on PC?”. Our answer is: to discover trends, learn the market, and then consider adopting a strategy that’s balanced and flexible enough. “The split is still skewing towards ads, but what we have noticed is that players love the ability to spend when they want to”, says Mathias Gredal Nørvig, CEO of SYBO. It’s also very good advice because Unity allows the combination of some monetization strategies.

Two more things we can say:

While pitching your game idea, ask for advice from experienced specialists. It can be very helpful.
2. Integrate user-generated content into your game. Believe us, this is the future. When more players use games as creation tools, games’ lifespan will expand.

Why do People Like Unity more than Unreal?

The battle Unreal vs. Unity will be the final answer for you is Unity the best game engine or not? Let’s compare these two bosses in detail.

Aspect	Unity	Unreal Engine
Ease of use and learning curve	Beginner-friendly interface	A steeper learning curve, especially for newcomers
Programming language	Uses C#, which is more accessible to beginners	Uses C++, which is challenging for beginners
Platform compatibility	Strong cross-platform support, including PC, mobile, AR/VR, consoles, etc.	More focused on high-end PC and console development
Asset store	Unity Asset Store offers a vast selection of assets, plugins, and tools	Unreal Marketplace is robust but Unity Asset Store has better offerings
Community and support	Large and active community with a lot of online resources and forums	Active community with strong documentation but Unity’s community is larger
Indie game development	Often preferred by indie developers due to affordability and flexibility	Historically is more resourced-intensive
2D game development	Has strong support for 2D game development, making it popular for 2D projects	Primarily known for its prowess in 3D game development
Real-time 3D graphics	Offers advanced rendering features	Known for its stunning real-time 3D graphics and high-end visuals
Pricing model	Uses a subscription-based model with a free tier available	Free-to-use but charges royalties for commercial projects above a certain revenue threshold
Customization and flexibility	Highly customizable, offering flexibility in design and workflows	Powerful but is seen as more rigid in terms of workflows
Updates and iterations	Frequent updates and a commitment to continuous improvement	Steady updates but some users feel the iteration speed is slower

FAQs:

Why is Unity's wide usage beneficial for hiring?

Unity’s widespread adoption in the game development industry brings significant benefits for hiring. With a wide community of developers utilizing Unity, finding skilled talent becomes more accessible. The engine’s popularity ensures a rich pool of professionals well-versed in Unity’s tools and workflows.

This ubiquity extends to educational institutions, where aspiring developers often choose Unity for learning game development. Employers can tap into this talent pool with confidence, knowing that Unity’s prevalence simplifies recruitment, facilitates knowledge exchange, and provides a broad talent base with diverse experiences.

Is Unity a suitable engine for beginners?

Yes, Unity is highly suitable for beginners in game development. Its user-friendly interface, intuitive design, and extensive documentation make it accessible for those new to game design and programming. With a supportive community and a wealth of learning resources, beginners can easily grasp fundamental concepts and gradually advance their skills.

What are the limitations of Unity for large projects?

Unity is a very good instrument but it still has limitations for big projects including challenges with handling AAA games, large landscapes with heavy on-screen elements, and networked games. Also, it can restrict deep optimizations and might require workarounds for complex tasks.