[ronjouch]

> I think a large part, why smaller, "indie" engines like haxeflixel, godot, cocos-2d etc are surviving is because of the much lower entry level. I wonder if the big ones like unreal, unity and crysis are going to collapse sometime under their own weight... How are they even adding all those new features without breaking stuff all the time?

Apart from technical answers for good engineering practice, I'd just say they do it with money (engineering time). And as long as gamers keep drooling at next-gen graphics, they'll merrily keep maintaining this beast they've assembled :)

UE vs. the indie engines you mention are very different economical animals. Where these indie engines are made by volunteers or small/medium teams, UE is built by the huge team at Epic, they've been doing it for years, it will cost you (a "5% royalty based on gross revenue" [1]).

So, not diminishing their technical prowesses at all, just reminding they pursue a juicy market which wants these weighty features so that their new AAA games stay on top of whatever new hardware and graphics advancements without having to research/implement those themselves.

[1] https://www.unrealengine.com/custom-licensing