Epic Games Makes Unreal Engine 4 Free For Developers Everywhere

Epic Games has announced that Unreal Engine 4 is now free for any game developer to use. The announcement was made on the Unreal Engine website.

Before it became the free Unreal Engine 4, the system was originally subscription-based. 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.

Speaking of updates, Polygon has confirmed that all future updates for Unreal Engine 4 will be free as well. 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.

Users who were subscribed to the Unreal Engine 4 before the announcement of its free use will not be left in the dust. A representative from Epic stated 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.

Regarding how the company looks to make a profit, Epic also has answers for that. Basically, developers who will use Unreal Engine 4 for commercially released games or other forms of media will pay Epic a 5 percent royalty on gross revenue that is above $3000 per product and per quarter.

A report from Gameaustra 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, though one can expect a certain amount of money to be paid.

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 the engine's use for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One can use it for free as well.

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Unreal Engine 4 Is Free: A Message from Tim Sweeney (Credit: YouTube/Unreal Engine)