Performance and tooling have historically driven game engine licensing. There's a reason why Unity has a noticeable lack of presence in so-called triple-a gaming. Believe me, if performance was "pretty good" and tooling was "excellent" then every major studio would be using Unity. Instead, they're overwhelming using Unreal or they're using their franchise engine that they've built over 1 or 2 decades similar to id Software whose engines used to be the direct Unreal competitor.
As a consumer, I cringe when I run game that is "powered by Unity". They nearly always feature extremely slow loading and sub-optimal framerate on top tier hardware. In contrast, an id or Unreal engine game will run at 4k 60fps while looking beautiful.
On another note, Unity's market has always seemed to be indie and double-a studios. I would expect a recession to cause many who would have "taken a year off to make a game" to change their minds as investments or savings drawdown.