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I suppose the overriding factor though was the cost. I paid $100 for TGE and $99 for MMOKIT. So, for $199 I get an MMO base that has SQL, zoneing capability and no connection limit. Basicaly to get this with 3DGS I would have needed to get Pro (which was my intention when I started with commercial), Pro costs $899 - a no brainer I am afraid.

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Not such a no brainer if you are making a commercial MMOG.

You bring up a very valid point in that with Torque you have to supplement the tools that come with 3DGS native. I too do not want a war, it's neither wanted nor needed, but consider the limitations of the Torque Indie license:

- You cannot have this license owned by a company or business. This is severely weird in todays game industry and means if you are serious about making a game, you cannot use this license.
- You have to display the Torque logo for 2 seconds during start up and include an about box with links to Torque and their logo. No biggie, but I like the option of who I advertise for.
- You still don't have the Torque Shader Engine (150 USD)
- Should your annual revenue ever go beyond 250k USD per year (which with a real MMO is a distinct possibility considering hardware and bandwidth), you would have to pay for the Torque Commercial License (395 USD) and the Torque Net Commercial licentse (995 USD).
- Furthermore, that I'm aware of, they only offer per seat licensing on both commercial and indie license.

I've always said that Torque and 3DGS are "fairly" equal at what they offer technologically and very equal in the games that are made by their customers but they differ significantly in their business model. I find torque to be too complicated and ever changing (these terms are only a year old I think and radically different than what they had 2 years ago) and they may change again.

Also, you may not be saving money when, if you actually go commercial, you will have to pay much more for commercial with TorqueNet and TorqueShade (1540 USD total) and this would be per seat. So a team of 4 people would have to pay 6.16k USD under torque to develop a commercial game while a team of 5 would have to pay 1.8k USD for one 3DGS pro license and a 3 seat team license.

On paper, Torques plan is good for if you reach the 250k USD mark, you can certainly afford the price increase. But this is their plan now and it changes year by year. Furthermore, since it can't be bought by a company, developing as a real business is hindered under the Indie license and IMO you are force to do the commercial license anyways. In light of this, the stability of what I consider a simple license, simple pricing, and the longevity of 3DGS as a company are two reasons why I have stuck with it. But if your requirements and business structure is different, then I would say Torque is the next best choice.

Of course all of the above assumes that you can create the same game with both engines but that is a debate I do NOT wish to re-start here.