Just to note: this discussion has come up many times, and the main Godot developers (I am not one of them) have repeatedly stated there will not be official console support due to licensing issues.
The real thing I am wondering is why can't the godot devs make the build for consoles, but do what most engines do and not give that version out unless they get the dev accounts to show that a studio has what is needed to export to console. Unreal does this, and so does unity.
This way that one version would not be open source like the rest of godot, but it is usable for the community to export to console just by signing a NDA with godot themselves and be able to export there projects.
For Unity and Unreal, they both have direct access and support by console manufacturers, have large teams of developers to dedicate to console exports, and both are closed source engines (technically Unreal engine is “source available”, but not open source like Godot) which gives them advantages with supporting consoles, licensing, and NDAs. If console manufacturers paid the Godot team to offer console exports, then its possible that the Godot team would dedicate individual(s) and have console support out of the box that is similar to Unity and Unreal. Without more resources though, it’s unlikely to happen.
As far as NDAs go, it would need to be between the individuals working on the console export, not Godot or the Godot community. If it was for the Godot community than everyone using Godot would be constrained by the terms in the NDA regardless of how they use Godot, and if it was for Godot itself than all contributors (big or small) would be constrained by NDA. The NDA would need to be semi-specific so only those who use and develop for consoles are affected. Basically, the people on the Godot team would basically need to be an “official” third-party offering console support for the NDA to work (based on my limited knowledge).
That is all assuming it’s even possible for official console support with the MIT license.
This is the only thing keeping me away from godot as of now, because I have used unity and unreal, both are great engines and support console exports with the right licensing with a studio. Thanks for any replies on this topic I hope to hear others inputs on this situation.
Well, if console support is your goal, you may want to stick with Unity or Unreal, as their console exports are more mature and the companies behind both engines have more direct access and support from the console manufacturers. Godot probably runs fine on Console, but it’s not as battle tested.
Though, more Godot on consoles is always a good thing! :)
