Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, has announced a new pricing model for its Unreal Engine. Starting next month, non-game developers will be charged an annual subscription fee of $1,850 per seat. This is a departure from the royalty-based model used for game developers.
The New Pricing Model
The new pricing model will not affect game developers. They will continue to pay a 5% royalty on games using the engine, but only on titles which exceed $1M in lifetime revenue. However, the engine is also used by animators and others for things like films and theme park rides, and it is these users who will now pay a per-seat fee.
Exceptions to the Rule
There are several exceptions to this new rule. Companies that earn less than $1 million in annual gross revenue, as well as students, educators, and “hobbyists,” are exempted. Companies that make plug-ins for the Unreal Engine can continue to use it for free; in these cases, Epic will continue to get its cut via the revenue share model in its Unreal Engine Marketplace. Developers can also continue to use older versions of the engine without charge, as the fee applies only to Unreal Engine 5.4 and up.
Learning from Past Mistakes
Epic Games seems to have learned from the mistakes of its competitor, Unity, which ran into trouble last year when it announced changes to its pricing policy. The changes were met with backlash from developers, leading to a rapid rethink and the departure of the CEO.
Looking Ahead
With this new pricing model, Epic Games hopes to avoid similar pitfalls and continue to provide a robust and versatile engine for developers across various industries. The changes are set to take effect from next month