Why there aren´t any BIG games with open source engines ?

[bruno.arruda]

HI,

As far as I know : ) . Why the companies make their engines instead of using/modifying the open source ones ?

Thanks for the info.

Best Regards.

[rogerborg]

Not Invented Here.

[JP]

Because they make their own specialist technology fit for their purposes generally and highly optimised for the task at hand... It's much better to have an in-house team supporting your technology rather than some hobbyist folks sitting in their dingy bedrooms who aren't at your constant beck and call.

These people work full-time to make top of the line technology whereas most open-source stuff is done by small teams or individuals in their spare time.

[rogerborg]

All of that is true, but it would still make sense to start with an existing engine and modify it, rather than writing it from scratch.

[Gogolian]

Well... Big Games make Big Companies ( which can contain hundred's of pepole) they go... CASH. They can pay pepole for making games, so they can also pay for engine that is developed by pepole who also get paid, what means this engine is not free

So if pepole do get paid for making an engine, they spend maybe all time in a day for develop that. So it is mostly always better than free.
And even if is not, it is more flexible for sure. (they can pay engine developers to modify the engine to be better for what do they need)

And they spend money for... Commercials... You can say what you think but a good commercial can make people will buy poop for big cash

[wyrmmage]

it should be noted that a few large commercial games have used open-source engines, although as you've said, it's certainly not the norm. Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl used a modified version of ODE, an open-source physics engine.
-wyrmmage