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RimWorld switches engine from Unity to the devs' own, faster Waylith Engine, all apparently without breaking mods somehow
(www.rockpapershotgun.com)
this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2026
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I'm not going to say you're wrong, but it also adds a ton of complications. Presumably they wrote an entire compatibility layer to map from Unity calls to their own engine. That work doesn't need to be done at all if you start from scratch with your own engine and targets.
You are right that they probably couldn't afford to make their own engine originally though, and this presumably lets them not pay royalties on future sales. I wouldn't say it's a good strategy, but if you end up with a boatload of cash and a game with a long tail then it's a good tactic. It's just not something you should plan on doing.
Even if they didn't plan for it and build that compatibility layer, that boatload of cash gives them a lot of options.
It seems like a classic time-to-market and "don't step over good to get to perfect" example to me. Get a product out, start getting revenue, then make it perfect.