Here's a very interesting development for the world of the open source Godot Engine, as a new company named W4 Games has been formed to push it further than ever before. Founded by Godot Engine veterans Juan Linietsky, Rémi Verschelde and Fabio Alessandrelli, and veteran entrepreneur Nicola Farronato the idea is to provide commercial assistance to developers of all sorts using Godot Engine.
One of the goals (there will be a number) is to help developers access console markets, which has been a problem for Godot Engine since it's fully open source and can't just include everything needed to publish on consoles as they've historically been restrictive with things like their SDK. So one goal of W4 Games is to help there, as their FAQ mentions:
W4 was created to satisfy commercial needs of the corporate game industry that are currently unaddressed, by providing products and services to companies that need them in order to move to Godot from other technologies. This includes services offering such as enterprise support plans and the possibility to access markets that were previously unreached by Godot, such as console platforms. Stay tuned for more details!
That's just one small part of it though, as their announcement explains:
W4 Games was formed to strengthen the Godot ecosystem by providing both enterprise and independent developers with a complementary suite of commercial products and services to successfully develop and publish video games to all existing platforms in the market. Further announcements about these products and services will be made over the coming weeks and months as they become available.
For anyone suddenly worried — Godot Engine remains community built, owned and run and will continue to be. This is just a few of their team hoping to keep pushing open source to the masses of developers out there.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: ValckQuoting: KimyrielleWell, if they work on proprietary stuff to allow games to run on consoles, they simply CAN'T upstream -everything- just...as much as they can?Specifically "the video game industry" has a reputation for exploiting technology, exploiting artists, exploiting developers, whenever, wherever, and however they can. What we "consumers" think – and so much less we Linux users, fraction of a market share of consumers – has never stopped "the video game industry", at best it might have given them a short second to pause, before they get the spin doctors spinning in the right direction again.
Not sure if you read evil intent into their words when there isn't any? At least I don't think they are going to last in this business for very long if they build a reputation for exploiting the open source engine their business is based on, without giving back.
Again, I hope I read evil intent where there is none, but I'm all too wary of the long and strong arm of the industry we're talking about. This is not about indie studios or small companies; they already don't need this company's help.
Exploitism is hardly their fault, no idea why you would imply that.
They certainly use a more inclusive definition of "video game industry" then you.
AAA studios are hardly their target. Read the article about porting I linked.
Last edited by const on 9 August 2022 at 5:52 pm UTC
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Quoting: ValckQuoting: constAs an open source advocate and hobby game developer, I can't emphasize enough how important godot is. MIT was the correct license choice and the core developers clearly aren't in it for the money.No one is denying that, but this isn't about the developers of Godot.
Juan Linietsky, Rémi Verschelde and Fabio Alessandrelli are without doubt the core developers of Godot.
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Given the recent moves of both major proprietary engines (one using the devs as meat shields and then throwing them under the bus hoping to get an advantage in their legal crusade against the world, the other entertaining the opaque business opportunities offered by Malware practices) it should be clear to everyone that, pretty much like for OSs, engines too should be open, free and non controllable by a single actor for the sake of the whole industry. So I hope this workaround to console NDAs helps Godot to gain market share and features.
Last edited by Mal on 9 August 2022 at 6:43 pm UTC
Last edited by Mal on 9 August 2022 at 6:43 pm UTC
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Quoting: constI'm not implying anything, I am pointing out that in "this business" it is common practice to play with hard bandages, and it takes a lot of bad press before exploitative behaviour reflects negatively on the bottom line.Quoting: ValckQuoting: KimyrielleWell, if they work on proprietary stuff to allow games to run on consoles, they simply CAN'T upstream -everything- just...as much as they can?Specifically "the video game industry" has a reputation for exploiting technology, exploiting artists, exploiting developers, whenever, wherever, and however they can. What we "consumers" think – and so much less we Linux users, fraction of a market share of consumers – has never stopped "the video game industry"[...]
Not sure if you read evil intent into their words when there isn't any? At least I don't think they are going to last in this business for very long if they build a reputation for exploiting the open source engine their business is based on, without giving back.
Exploitism is hardly their fault, no idea why you would imply that.
QuoteThey certainly use a more inclusive definition of "video game industry" then you.And this is were we agree to disagree.
AAA studios are hardly their target.
QuoteRead the article about porting I linked.They obviously use a less inclusive definition of "video game consoles" than I do ;)
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Quoting: constThank you for pointing that out, it wasn't clear enough at least for me, from the article that the "Godot veterans" are or were actually Godot core developers.Quoting: ValckQuoting: constAs an open source advocate and hobby game developer, I can't emphasize enough how important godot is. MIT was the correct license choice and the core developers clearly aren't in it for the money.No one is denying that, but this isn't about the developers of Godot.
Juan Linietsky, Rémi Verschelde and Fabio Alessandrelli are without doubt the core developers of Godot.
Last edited by Valck on 9 August 2022 at 6:25 pm UTC
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What exactly does it involve? W4 making some contract with closed minded consoles to give developers access to special version that's bundled with console SDKs?
Also, it's a dumb dinosaur approach on the part of incumbent consoles to still keep SDKs closed in this century.
Last edited by Shmerl on 9 August 2022 at 8:04 pm UTC
Also, it's a dumb dinosaur approach on the part of incumbent consoles to still keep SDKs closed in this century.
Last edited by Shmerl on 9 August 2022 at 8:04 pm UTC
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So it's a consulting company that specializes in Godot? With a possible future focus of console integration?
That seems really niche... Like not supporting a business niche.
Or is it a consulting company that basically acts as a legal bridge to allow porting to consoles (or integrating other proprietary tech)?
I guess that could work. Still seems like a fairly limited customer base or am I missing something?
That seems really niche... Like not supporting a business niche.
Or is it a consulting company that basically acts as a legal bridge to allow porting to consoles (or integrating other proprietary tech)?
I guess that could work. Still seems like a fairly limited customer base or am I missing something?
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Quoting: denyasisI guess that could work. Still seems like a fairly limited customer base or am I missing something?
If they offload the legal stuff from developers through some agreement, it allows much easier access to messed up console world for them. Isn't Unity doing something of the sort for developers?
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Quoting: ValckQuoting: constAs an open source advocate and hobby game developer, I can't emphasize enough how important godot is. MIT was the correct license choice and the core developers clearly aren't in it for the money.No one is denying that, but this isn't about the developers of Godot.
QuoteFounded by Godot Engine veterans Juan Linietsky, Rémi Verschelde and Fabio AlessandrelliI took that line from the article to indicate that it is in fact about (some of) the developers of Godot.
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Desperately needed because there are a ton of devs that dont even know that it exsists
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Quoting: Purple Library GuyThank you. I have already been educated on the matter, but still. If one isn't familiar with these names, "Godot Engine veterans" could mean any number of things, from "people whose work has encompassed using Godot Engine for a long time" to "people intricately involved in the creation of the Godot engine itself". Turns out it was the latter, not the former.Quoting: ValckQuoting: constAs an open source advocate and hobby game developer, I can't emphasize enough how important godot is. MIT was the correct license choice and the core developers clearly aren't in it for the money.No one is denying that, but this isn't about the developers of Godot.
QuoteFounded by Godot Engine veterans Juan Linietsky, Rémi Verschelde and Fabio AlessandrelliI took that line from the article to indicate that it is in fact about (some of) the developers of Godot.
And still, I stand by my point; neither the article nor my comment were about the developers of Godot, but about the entrepreneurs of W4 Games, even if both groups are (at least in part) composed of the same people.
Last edited by Valck on 10 August 2022 at 9:54 am UTC
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