[dogles]

Can we please stop calling Unity/Unreal "free"? Unity still sells a Pro version, and Unreal takes a cut of revenue after a certain amount of $ earned. I'm not arguing against either model, and it's GREAT for hobbyists, but these engines still cost professional studios money.

[wtallis]

The salient point is the barrier to entry. The fact that they still have some form of revenue related to the engines doesn't elevate the up-front cost any and the royalties (where they exist) are structured in a way that cannot prevent them from being a viable option for indie studios. The engines will be making the benefits of new graphics APIs properly accessible to indie studios in all the ways that matter; it won't be a AAA-exclusive thing.

(And professional studios don't have to license the ancillary tools and services and source code access of the Pro editions in order to ship a game.)