Indie developers can now use Unreal Engine for free

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Gaming
Posted 14 May, 2020

By Jamie Watts

London, UK

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Yesterday’s demo of the Unreal Engine 5 was certainly something wasn’t it? And small indie devs will get a taste of the new cutting-edge technology for free.

Consider yourself an avid gamer? the chances are you’ve already played several titles developed using one of the constantly improving iterations of the Unreal Engine.

Whether we’re talking Mass Effect, Bioshock, Borderlands, Mortal Kombat, or owners Epic Games’ in-house projects Fortnite and Gears of War, a hefty chunk of the most popular franchises in the industry today manifested from the drawing board to our libraries courtesy of the Unreal Engine’s powerful toolkit. And boy is the fifth gen looking powerful.

Boasting revolutionary new technologies such as ‘Nantines’; billions of tiny polygons that create crystal clear textures, and ‘Lumen’; a new lighting system that organically adapts to changes in the environments with photo-like realism, AAA dev teams stand to benefit from this unbridled freedom offered by the Unreal Engine 5 for years to come.

It’s not just the tech that’s being updated for the next gen of consoles either, Epic has opened up exciting new possibilities for smaller indie development teams by making changes to the Unreal Engine’s royalty model. Once the engine is made readily available to the community, devs will be to build their own projects using its immense toolkit without owing Epic a single cent – that is, until the game makes its first $1 million in gross revenue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC5KtatMcUw

Unreal Engine 5 Revealed! | Next-Gen Real-Time Demo Running on PlayStation 5 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC5KtatMcUw)

Prior to this revision, developers who used the Unreal Engine for any capacity of their build had to fork over a 5% cut of whatever they made to Epic, provided their game made upward of $3,000 in gross revenue. And now, Epic are even willing to implement the new legislation retroactively, reimbursing all games created in 2020 that fell short of its $1 million cap.

While the notion of forgoing revenue is enough to make your average multi-national wretch, Epic is looking to garner favour with its thriving indie developer base. By engendering a sense of community, CEO Tim Sweeney hopes developers can ‘collaborate together to reach users as opposed to fighting to own the customer’. And this could be far more lucrative for Epic in the long run.

Burgeoning developers out there without heaps of cash now have the opportunity to make their vision a reality, and the Unreal Engine will give them the best possible chance of succeeding. The recent triumphs of subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PS Now, coupled with the critical acclaim of titles like Outer Wilds really highlights the fact that there is a thirst out there for creating and playing indie titles at the moment.

And with the cancellation to E3 2020 ousting a bunch of independent products before they could even get off the ground, it’s a relief to finally have some good news for self-standing creatives.

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Jamie Watts

Gaming Editor London, UK

I’m Jamie (He/Him), the Deputy Editor and a Senior Writer at Thred. Keeping up with social media updates and revolutionary technology is my forte, but when away from my keyboard, you’ll probably find me wrapped around a large Tango ice blast at the latest mediocre horror flick. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.

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