Epic Games has announced a new pricing policy for its famous Unreal Engine. The new price will be higher, but it mainly targets industries other than video games.
A new single cost set at $1,850
Epic Games announced a price change last year and it is now set in stone, it will arrive at the end of April during the Unreal Engine 5.4 update.
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We are introducing a new Unreal subscription based on seat count when Unreal Engine 5.4 is released. This new rate of $1,850 per seat will apply to companies generating annual gross revenue above $1 million and that do not create games.
There are two concepts to remember here. The first is that when Epic Games speaks of “headquarters”, it refers to a person who uses the license. The second is that the Unreal Engine is far from being used only for the video game industry. It is also used to produce shows, films, series and even visual and audio elements for many other companies, particularly for advertising and marketing.
Please note that the price changes will not apply until you decide to upgrade to version 5.4. Price changes will not apply to new or existing users of Unreal Engine 5.3 or any earlier version; they will only apply to users of Unreal Engine 5.4 or later.
The video game sector remains on a royalty model
Epic Games explains that Unreal Engine will remain free to use for students, educators, hobbyists, and businesses with less than $1 million in gross annual revenue.
We are not changing our licensing model for game developers, who will continue to pay a 5% royalty on products with lifetime gross revenue above $1 million. The first million dollars generated by a game is exempt from royalties, and revenue generated through the Epic Games Store is not taken into account in the overall royalty calculation, as is the case today .
Ultimately, the video game sector is therefore spared from this new pricing. You will only need to pay if you meet all of the following criteria:
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- You are a business with gross annual revenue of more than $1 million.
- You don't make games
- You do not create applications that are licensed to third-party end users and rely on Unreal Engine code at run time.
If you develop an application other than a game, which is licensed to third-party end users and which relies on Unreal Engine code at runtime, you will have to pay royalties, just like the developers games. You will pay a 5% royalty on products with lifetime gross revenue of more than $1 million.