Unity vs. Unreal Engine

October 12, 2017

Programming language choice(s): C#, JavaScript

Cost: Free, if you make no money and do it for fun, however missing some feature that the Plus or Pro version has.

To get Plus version, it will cost you $35/month for each person on the team. You have to take this option if you make $100,000+ revenue on your game, but less than $200,000.

To get Pro version, it will cost you $125/month for each person on the team. You will also be forced to choose this option if you make $200,000+ revenue on your game.

This can forces you to try to predict ahead of time if you plan on making money off your game and how badly you really need those Pro features. See the list of Plus and Pro features here: https://store.unity.com/compare-plus-and-pro

Strong points:

Can create 2D or 3D games
Excels in 2D or mobile games
Can easily publish one game onto all platforms
Insanely good asset store, you don't need to do any
Visual Studio integration (Unity comes packaged up with Visual Studio now, you can add it on via the Visual Studio Installer that is part of VS2017+).
Easier to pickup with a more friendly UI for learning. Beginners tutorials are widely available for free and also easy to use. If you are new to programming, C# and JavaScript are easier to learn than C++.
Larger community: meaning more tutorials, more support, more bugs getting noticed by more people...
Cheaper option if you are making revenue, no royalties, just the monthly fee for your Unity subscription for Plus or Pro

Weaker points:

Typically used more by indie games and not AAA studios or big name games
Might not be high performing enough or strong enough graphics to stand up against Unreal engine (or custom engine) games.
Cannot use the full product for free unless you start paying monthly fees

Well-known games made with Unity: Cuphead, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, Hearthstone, Rust, Kerbal Space Program

Programming language choice(s): C++ (there are other plugins you can use to try programming in Unreal using JavaScript or Python or others, use these at your own risk! C++ is the only naively supported language here)

Cost: Free, if you make no money and do it for fun, everything is unlocked in the free version. 5% royalty if you start making $.

Strong points:

Can create 2D or 3D games
High performance games and graphics engine. Next-gen graphics can be made, better particle / physics simulators, lighting, you name it..
Used by large AAA studios
Has Blueprints, which is a Visual Scripting system that allows you to build an entire game without writing any code. If you are not a programmer and don't plan to learn any languages, you can learn to use Blueprint with tutorials available online.
Good sized asset store
Can use the full product for free as long as you aren't generating revenue

Weaker points:

More complex to learn the UI for Unreal, also more complicated programming language to use (C++).
Smaller community and asset store available than Unity. Less tutorials, and more that you have to custom make on your own.
Could be overkill for a small, simple game.
More expensive if you are generating revenue, 5% no matter how much you make

Well-known games made with Unreal: Mass Effect, Gears of War, Bioshock, X-Com, Tom Clancy's Series, Alien Series, Assassin's Creed Chronicles, Batman, Sea of Thieves, Fortnight, Tekken 7, Street Fighter V, Borderlands Series, and much more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unreal_Engine_games