Epic Games has announced that Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) is now free for any game developer to use. The announcement was made on the Unreal Engine website.
Initially the Unreal Engine 4 was subscription-based and users would pay $19 a month and get access to the engine and the source code, not to mention any updates that would have hit the engine. On the other hand, its rival Unity offers a month’s subscription for $75 without the add-ons for iOS or Android.
All future updates for Unreal Engine 4 will be free as well and as to why Epic decided to go free with their acclaimed game engine, the blog stated that it was to expand the company’s reach to a larger audience who aren’t familiar with the Unreal Engine.
Developers, who have recently subscribed to UE4, will not be left in the dust. Epic will be issuing a pro-rated refund to current subscribers for their most recent month’s payment The blog reads that anyone who has ever paid to use Unreal Engine 4 would be given $30 credit, which can be used to buy various tools in the Unreal Engine Marketplace.
Epic is also looking at the profitability sides of things and is basically asking developers who will use Unreal Engine 4 for commercially released games or other forms of media to pay Epic a 5 per cent royalty on gross revenue that is above $3000 per product and per quarter.
A report from Gamasustra stated that developers and larger studios could also make a deal with Epic to reduce the price of royalties or even remove them altogether. The exact nature of this deal is unknown; however one can expect a certain amount of money to be paid. India’s DSK Green Ice Games’ Death God University that is made on Unreal Engine 4 is also being featured at Unreal’s booth in this year’s GDC.
The free Unreal Engine 4 is currently available for Windows PC, Mac OS X, Android, iOS, Oculus Rift, Gear VR, Linux, SteamOS and HTML5. Apparently, developers who’ve registered to use the engine for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One can use it for free as well.
