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buried lede, perhaps: retroactive to Jan. 1, "Unreal Engine royalties waived on first $1 million in game revenue" > Unreal Engine End User License Agreement fo

buried lede, perhaps: retroactive to Jan. 1, "Unreal Engine royalties waived on first $1 million in game revenue" > Unreal Engine End User License Agreement for Publishing: This license is free to use and incurs 5% royalties when you monetize your game or other interactive off-the-shelf product and your lifetime gross revenues from that product exceed $1,000,000 USD.

deerIRL 6y ago
This is a huge jump from the previous $3000 per quarter being royalty-free when they initially made UE4 free. It will be interesting to see if it helps them capture more of the indie studios from Unity.
- metalforever 6y ago
  Yeah I would personally use this instead of Unity because I don’t want to pay royalties on a tiny indie video game that I’m barely making any money on. My games aren’t ever going to gross a million dollars. The licensing model at Unity is vague regarding whether tech workers need to pay for Unity Plus if it’s a side thing for them also (I recall there being a 100k cap).
  - avolcano 6y ago
    Well, it's worth noting Unity doesn't have royalties - you just pay per seat on a monthly cost, and it's free indefinitely* if you make/raise less than $100k a year. * (this also means no official support and a few missing features, not sure if UE4 offers everything for free)
    - metalforever 6y ago
      It is unclear whether you have to pay the monthly fee if you don’t have a registered business and are working on something in your free time, and have a day job making 100k+. I don’t like how the motivations are out of whack here . Unity makes more money if I don’t finish my game .
      - teraflop 6y ago
        Your question is answered pretty clearly by the license terms: https://unity3d.com/legal/terms-of-service/software https://unity3d.com/legal/terms-of-service/software > if you are an individual using the Unity Software, but not providing services to a third party, your Total Finances are the amount generated in connection with your use of the Unity Software. In this case, your Total Finances would not include amounts you generate from other work (for example, if your day job is as a zookeeper).
    - asutekku 6y ago
      UE offers everything free and now they started providing some in game services (such as accounts, statistics) for free too. Only way to pay to use Unreal Engine is to earn more than 1.000.000 usd which for most people means everything is completely free. I’d say unreal has a much better value proposition in here.
      - gfxgirl 6y ago
        i know games with $3 million dollar budgets that chose Unity over Unreal because with Unreal that would have cost them $150k where as with their 10 person team Unity cost them $45k for 3 years.
  - deerIRL 6y ago
    It may have changed, but back when we were looking into Engines to use, Unity had a completely free license until you hit $100,00 in sales or wanted to remove the unity splash screen on app launch which costed a then flat $1500 licensing fee for the "Professional Edition".
    - andechs 6y ago
      Removing the splash screen for Unity is a feature - Unity has a pretty bad rep (perhaps undeservedly) because so much shovelware uses the engine.
wastedhours 6y ago
Also > Epic Account and Game Services I think this has the potential to be a huge shift if enough developers build games targeting Fortnite players. There's an ecosystem right there to be tapped into, and Epic just happens to be giving you the tools to do it.
- ocdtrekkie 6y ago
  And developers who launch on the Epic Store get much better placement than the average Steam listing, and free promotion by Epic's social accounts. At least right now, even before the financial incentives, there's a lot of perks for a new developer to become "heard of" from Epic.
- scollet 6y ago
  I'm not following this comment. Is it because the intersectionality of players includes lower-income people, children, and those struggling with addiction?
  - wastedhours 6y ago
    I'm not following your response. My comment was in relation to a highly engaged, key target demographic audience who have an Epic account and they've just handed indie devs around the world much easier access to that audience. No idea what point you're making, though it seems loaded against Fortnite?
    - scollet 6y ago
      I can see the platform being a shared space between developers as a great benefit to indies. I wouldn't describe Fortnite players as engaged any more than I would describe a gambling den habitant as engaged. In this case the latter is less predatory. It's my prerogative that any time Fortnite is mentioned, it should be reminded that while it is a great profit model, it is also a depressing moral failure.
      - scollet 6y ago
chongli 6y ago
I’d be really curious to see what a talented programmer or two could do with the engine by themselves, without bringing an artist on board. Is the Unreal engine flexible enough to do low fidelity, 2D games or are you just better off coding up your own engine at that point?
- autarch 6y ago
  I'm not an expert in these things but my understanding is that Unity is much better for smaller games. I think Unreal is aimed at the AAA market.
- AlunAlun 6y ago
  You're better off using Unity for such projects.
- dubcanada 6y ago
  The only reason to use Unreal for a 2d game is if you want easy cross platform support and an asset pipeline, otherwise you would probably just make your own or use one of the existing 2d engines.
- jfkebwjsbx 6y ago
  "Low-fidelity", 2D does not mean no artist. Pretty much every game needs someone talented in art or design. It can be one of the programmers, of course. Unreal is not a good choice for a 2D game, anyway.
- rasz 6y ago
  Plenty of gamejam games are made in a weekend using Unreal, Unity is still holding strong due to ease of whipping something out in Adventure Creator.
- mantap 6y ago
  To be honest 2D games are more art heavy than 3D games. At least in 3D games you can get a long way with shaders, textures, geometric shapes and store-bought meshes. In 2D games everything is custom art.

deerIRL 6y ago

This is a huge jump from the previous $3000 per quarter being royalty-free when they initially made UE4 free. It will be interesting to see if it helps them capture more of the indie studios from Unity.

metalforever 6y ago
Yeah I would personally use this instead of Unity because I don’t want to pay royalties on a tiny indie video game that I’m barely making any money on. My games aren’t ever going to gross a million dollars. The licensing model at Unity is vague regarding whether tech workers need to pay for Unity Plus if it’s a side thing for them also (I recall there being a 100k cap).
- avolcano 6y ago
  Well, it's worth noting Unity doesn't have royalties - you just pay per seat on a monthly cost, and it's free indefinitely* if you make/raise less than $100k a year. * (this also means no official support and a few missing features, not sure if UE4 offers everything for free)
  - metalforever 6y ago
    It is unclear whether you have to pay the monthly fee if you don’t have a registered business and are working on something in your free time, and have a day job making 100k+. I don’t like how the motivations are out of whack here . Unity makes more money if I don’t finish my game .
    - teraflop 6y ago
      Your question is answered pretty clearly by the license terms: https://unity3d.com/legal/terms-of-service/software https://unity3d.com/legal/terms-of-service/software > if you are an individual using the Unity Software, but not providing services to a third party, your Total Finances are the amount generated in connection with your use of the Unity Software. In this case, your Total Finances would not include amounts you generate from other work (for example, if your day job is as a zookeeper).
  - asutekku 6y ago
    UE offers everything free and now they started providing some in game services (such as accounts, statistics) for free too. Only way to pay to use Unreal Engine is to earn more than 1.000.000 usd which for most people means everything is completely free. I’d say unreal has a much better value proposition in here.
    - gfxgirl 6y ago
      i know games with $3 million dollar budgets that chose Unity over Unreal because with Unreal that would have cost them $150k where as with their 10 person team Unity cost them $45k for 3 years.
- deerIRL 6y ago
  It may have changed, but back when we were looking into Engines to use, Unity had a completely free license until you hit $100,00 in sales or wanted to remove the unity splash screen on app launch which costed a then flat $1500 licensing fee for the "Professional Edition".
  - andechs 6y ago
    Removing the splash screen for Unity is a feature - Unity has a pretty bad rep (perhaps undeservedly) because so much shovelware uses the engine.

wastedhours 6y ago

Also > Epic Account and Game Services I think this has the potential to be a huge shift if enough developers build games targeting Fortnite players. There's an ecosystem right there to be tapped into, and Epic just happens to be giving you the tools to do it.

ocdtrekkie 6y ago
And developers who launch on the Epic Store get much better placement than the average Steam listing, and free promotion by Epic's social accounts. At least right now, even before the financial incentives, there's a lot of perks for a new developer to become "heard of" from Epic.
scollet 6y ago
I'm not following this comment. Is it because the intersectionality of players includes lower-income people, children, and those struggling with addiction?
- wastedhours 6y ago
  I'm not following your response. My comment was in relation to a highly engaged, key target demographic audience who have an Epic account and they've just handed indie devs around the world much easier access to that audience. No idea what point you're making, though it seems loaded against Fortnite?
  - scollet 6y ago
    I can see the platform being a shared space between developers as a great benefit to indies. I wouldn't describe Fortnite players as engaged any more than I would describe a gambling den habitant as engaged. In this case the latter is less predatory. It's my prerogative that any time Fortnite is mentioned, it should be reminded that while it is a great profit model, it is also a depressing moral failure.
    - scollet 6y ago

chongli 6y ago

I’d be really curious to see what a talented programmer or two could do with the engine by themselves, without bringing an artist on board. Is the Unreal engine flexible enough to do low fidelity, 2D games or are you just better off coding up your own engine at that point?

autarch 6y ago
I'm not an expert in these things but my understanding is that Unity is much better for smaller games. I think Unreal is aimed at the AAA market.
AlunAlun 6y ago
You're better off using Unity for such projects.
dubcanada 6y ago
The only reason to use Unreal for a 2d game is if you want easy cross platform support and an asset pipeline, otherwise you would probably just make your own or use one of the existing 2d engines.
jfkebwjsbx 6y ago
"Low-fidelity", 2D does not mean no artist. Pretty much every game needs someone talented in art or design. It can be one of the programmers, of course. Unreal is not a good choice for a 2D game, anyway.
rasz 6y ago
Plenty of gamejam games are made in a weekend using Unreal, Unity is still holding strong due to ease of whipping something out in Adventure Creator.
mantap 6y ago
To be honest 2D games are more art heavy than 3D games. At least in 3D games you can get a long way with shaders, textures, geometric shapes and store-bought meshes. In 2D games everything is custom art.