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"...if you’re using Unreal Engine, Epic will cover the 5% engine royalty for sales on the Epic Games store, out of Epic’s 12%." So there is a bias in the Epic

"...if you’re using Unreal Engine, Epic will cover the 5% engine royalty for sales on the Epic Games store, out of Epic’s 12%." So there is a bias in the Epic store towards Unreal titles then, contrary to what I just read.

thaumasiotes 8y ago
Only in the same sense that there's a bias in the Epic store towards listing your game in the Epic store rather than somewhere else with higher fees.
gamblor956 8y ago
No bias. If you sell a Unity game, the fee to Epic is 12%. If you sell an Unreal Game, the fee would have been 12% for the store plus 5% for engine royalties for a total of 17%, which would strongly dis-incentivize developers from using Epic's own engine. Epic is simply waiving that 5% engine royalty so that its store is game-engine-agnostic.
- chii 8y ago
  You forgot to mention the Unity cut in your sum. Epic is certainly not making the store engine neutral. It costs less to use unreal than unity.
  - gamblor956 8y ago
    Unity is royalty-free altogether, you pay a subscription for the development tools (think Adobe CC or MS Office365) and get all upgrades during your subscription. You can alternatively not pay a subscription fee at all, and accept certain restrictions on your engine's capabilities, mostly on the use of enterprise-level features an indie developer wouldn't have the resources to use anyway. So, by eliminating the 5% engine royalty for its own store, Epic is making Unreal also free and thus engine choice is not a deciding factor in whether to use Epic's store. IOW/tldr: Unity and Unreal cost the same amount of money to use and license if you sell through the Epic store.
    - tokyodude 8y ago
      > You can alternatively not pay a subscription fee at all, and accept certain restrictions on your engine's capabilities Just fyi: that is not how the unity license works. Unity's license is if your company makes >= $100k a year you're required to buy the $400 per seat license. If your company makes >= $200k year you're required to by the $1500 per seat license. Period. So for example if you're employee of Google and in your 20% time you download Unity you are not allowed to use it for free. Google makes X billion a year. That's greater than $200k a year. All employees of Google who download Unity for work related purposes are required to have the $1500 per year seat license. This has nothing to do with whether or not you publish a game. Unity is sold similar to Photoshop. It's a subscription. The only difference is unlike Photoshop, Unity has a free tier for people and companies that make less than $100k a year. From the unity site Free version eligibility: I or my company generate annual revenues or raised funds less than $100k Plus version eligibility: I or my company generate annual revenue or funds raised of $200k or less
      - gamblor956 8y ago
        You're not required to buy the $1500 license unless your company has already made $200k. If your first game goes bonkers and sells $1 million on the free version, you do not have to pay $1500 for the Plus version unless you make DLC or a new game after your bonanza. The license is prospective, not retrospective. Other than that, you've just restated what I already said. Unity provides the tools on subscription, but does not charge a royalty anymore.
  - naikrovek 8y ago
    It isn't Epic's fault that Unity doesn't have a royalty program. Unity doesn't get a "cut" of your game profits, anyway. They get $1500/year/developer.
- laythea 8y ago
  This does not detract from the fact that it is offering an unreal developer better terms than a unity dev.
  - gamblor956 8y ago
    No, they are not. The Epic store takes 12% whatever engine you use. They are simply waiving the 5% unreal engine royalty to unreal developers so they don't pay more than 12%.
    - tokyodude 8y ago
      Game budget $200k. Team 3 people Unreal Engine: +$200k -$24k 12% epic store fee -0 5% epic fee (would be $10k) ------ $176k income Unity Engine: +$200k -$24k 12% epic store fee -$3.6k 3 copies of unity pro for $200k budget game ------ $172.4k income (-4.6k vs unreal) So yes, they are. If you publish on Steam then the numbers change Unreal Engine: +$200k -$60k 30% steam fee -$10 5% epic fee ------ $130k income Unity Engine: +$200k -$60k 30% steam fee -$3.6k 3 copies of unity pro for $200k budget game ------ $136.4k income (+6.4k vs unreal)

thaumasiotes 8y ago

Only in the same sense that there's a bias in the Epic store towards listing your game in the Epic store rather than somewhere else with higher fees.

gamblor956 8y ago

No bias. If you sell a Unity game, the fee to Epic is 12%. If you sell an Unreal Game, the fee would have been 12% for the store plus 5% for engine royalties for a total of 17%, which would strongly dis-incentivize developers from using Epic's own engine. Epic is simply waiving that 5% engine royalty so that its store is game-engine-agnostic.

chii 8y ago
You forgot to mention the Unity cut in your sum. Epic is certainly not making the store engine neutral. It costs less to use unreal than unity.
- gamblor956 8y ago
  Unity is royalty-free altogether, you pay a subscription for the development tools (think Adobe CC or MS Office365) and get all upgrades during your subscription. You can alternatively not pay a subscription fee at all, and accept certain restrictions on your engine's capabilities, mostly on the use of enterprise-level features an indie developer wouldn't have the resources to use anyway. So, by eliminating the 5% engine royalty for its own store, Epic is making Unreal also free and thus engine choice is not a deciding factor in whether to use Epic's store. IOW/tldr: Unity and Unreal cost the same amount of money to use and license if you sell through the Epic store.
  - tokyodude 8y ago
    > You can alternatively not pay a subscription fee at all, and accept certain restrictions on your engine's capabilities Just fyi: that is not how the unity license works. Unity's license is if your company makes >= $100k a year you're required to buy the $400 per seat license. If your company makes >= $200k year you're required to by the $1500 per seat license. Period. So for example if you're employee of Google and in your 20% time you download Unity you are not allowed to use it for free. Google makes X billion a year. That's greater than $200k a year. All employees of Google who download Unity for work related purposes are required to have the $1500 per year seat license. This has nothing to do with whether or not you publish a game. Unity is sold similar to Photoshop. It's a subscription. The only difference is unlike Photoshop, Unity has a free tier for people and companies that make less than $100k a year. From the unity site Free version eligibility: I or my company generate annual revenues or raised funds less than $100k Plus version eligibility: I or my company generate annual revenue or funds raised of $200k or less
    - gamblor956 8y ago
      You're not required to buy the $1500 license unless your company has already made $200k. If your first game goes bonkers and sells $1 million on the free version, you do not have to pay $1500 for the Plus version unless you make DLC or a new game after your bonanza. The license is prospective, not retrospective. Other than that, you've just restated what I already said. Unity provides the tools on subscription, but does not charge a royalty anymore.
- naikrovek 8y ago
  It isn't Epic's fault that Unity doesn't have a royalty program. Unity doesn't get a "cut" of your game profits, anyway. They get $1500/year/developer.
laythea 8y ago
This does not detract from the fact that it is offering an unreal developer better terms than a unity dev.
- gamblor956 8y ago
  No, they are not. The Epic store takes 12% whatever engine you use. They are simply waiving the 5% unreal engine royalty to unreal developers so they don't pay more than 12%.
  - tokyodude 8y ago
    Game budget $200k. Team 3 people Unreal Engine: +$200k -$24k 12% epic store fee -0 5% epic fee (would be $10k) ------ $176k income Unity Engine: +$200k -$24k 12% epic store fee -$3.6k 3 copies of unity pro for $200k budget game ------ $172.4k income (-4.6k vs unreal) So yes, they are. If you publish on Steam then the numbers change Unreal Engine: +$200k -$60k 30% steam fee -$10 5% epic fee ------ $130k income Unity Engine: +$200k -$60k 30% steam fee -$3.6k 3 copies of unity pro for $200k budget game ------ $136.4k income (+6.4k vs unreal)