Metaverse is a new buzzword in the world of technology today, and people can often be seen talking about it. The first time Neal Stephenson introduced the term ‘Metaverse’ was in his science fiction novel ‘Snow Crash’.
Metaverse has created the opportunity to interact with people in the digital world from anywhere. People can create their 3D Avatars and play any role in the virtual world. Like, he can walk with friends in the park, go to the club, attend meetings and discuss projects in office space.
Now the question is, which engine is best to develop the metaverse: Unity or Unreal?
So in this blog post today, we will be discussing the features, benefits, and drawbacks of Unity and Unreal Engine.
By the end of the blog, you will be able to decide which engine is the best, Unity or Unreal, to develop the metaverse.
Let’s Get Started
Table of Contents
What is Unity Engine?
Unity is an awesome gaming engine that was introduced way back in 2005 by Unity technologies. Unity has gathered the attention of most enterprises and startups for metaverse development. It offers enhanced capabilities and functionalities that help turn fantasies into realities.
It is used to develop a stunning metaverse, and if you integrate AR/VR technology into it, you can also boost productivity and improve engagement. Unity is popular amongst entrepreneurs to build robust metaverses that interact with the virtual world efficiently.
Unity has successfully developed several metaverses used in various fields. Whether you talk about construction, film production, or engineering, the Unity engine has helped each sector develop better than other metaverses.
What is an Unreal Engine?
The unreal engine has shaken the metaverse and gaming development world with its exclusive feature. The engine uses C++ language to develop the metaverse.
Unreal possesses an amazing set of tools and editors that enable metaverse developers to manage the properties and create real-world people like 3D avatars.
More than this, Unreal comprises various parts, including a graphics engine, physics engine, sound engine, input, online module, etc., to create an efficient metaverse.
Unity or Unreal: A Comparative Analysis
1. Rendering – Unity vs. Unreal
When comparing Unity vs. Unreal in terms of rendering, Unity stands far ahead of Unreal. Unity allows visual node-based editors to write shader codes directly with high-level shader languages.
The significant downside of Unity’s rendering method is that it is not fit to convert the high definition and universal render pipelines. Because when you choose one, switching to the other can be time-consuming.
In Unreal, the ability to write HLSL is not given in the engine directly. A node-based material editor allows a vast range of customization with fewer technical hurdles.
On the other hand, the ability to write HLSL is not given in the engine directly. You get a node-based material editor that enables you a vast range of customization with fewer technical challenges. You can also contact the Metaverse development company to build an efficient metaverse.
2. Target platforms – Unity vs. Unreal
Unity and Unreal enable developers to create a metaverse for cross-platform development, including Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android, Xbox, etc.
However, Unity has an extra advantage when developing an efficient metaverse. It typically supports HTML5 web publishing, while Unreal discontinued the same after version 4.24. Also, most of the augmented reality and virtual reality platforms support Unity better than Unreal.
3. Animation – Unity vs. Unreal
All fundamental real-time animation features are typically supported by Unity. Armature-based animation, vertex animation, state machines, and sequences provide the necessary building blocks to construct complex animation systems.
Unity has improved much when it comes to animation. Because all real-time animation features are now supported by Unity, whether it is vertex animation, Armature based animation, or state machines, they all provide the necessary building blocks to create complex animation systems to build versatile metaverses.
Moreover, Unity and Unreal both provide animation engines inside the editor. But Unreal animation is of high utility and more mature.
You can also avail of metaverse development services to create robust metaverse.
4. Support – Unity vs. Unreal
Unity has an extra advantage over Unreal in terms of developer support. Since Unity has a vast community of developers, this engine is considered the perfect one. If you are stuck somewhere during your project, you can contact the developer’s community and get the problems resolved instantly.
5. Subscription Cost – Unity vs. Unreal
Comparing subscription costs is the most important factor when it comes to Unity vs. Unreal. Unity has paid plans starting at $399 per year/user. On the other hand, Unreal charges the US $ 1500 per year/seat for an enterprise program.
After discussing several crucial points, let’s focus on a quick comparison of Unity vs. Unreal to better understand which one to choose for your metaverse development project.
| Comparison Points | Unity | Unreal |
| Native Virtual Collaboration Tools | Perforce, Unity Teams / Plastic SCM | Perforce,SVN |
| Stock Art Assets | Unity asset store,Unity Art Engine,Sketchfab | Unreal marketplace,Sketchfab,Quixel Bridge |
| Native-IK Based Interactions | Two-bone IK,FABRIK solver,Chain solver | Two-bone IK, Trail solver,FABRIK solver,Full body IK,CCDIK |
| Source Code Access | Read-only access to engine source. | Read and write access to engine source. |
| VFX Pipeline | VFX Graph | Cascade (Legacy System), Niagra |
| Documentation | More comprehensive | More fragmented |
| Support | Unity has a large community of developers. | Unity has a smaller community of developers. |
Summing Up
Since we have discussed Unity and Unreal engine in detail along with comparing their several crucial features, you now better understand what significant role they play in creating the robust metaverse.
Both the engines give neck-to-neck competition to each other in terms of animation, target platforms, subscription cost, etc.
You can also get in touch with any top-class Unity 3D game Development Company to create high-performing metaverse games.
