The Unreal Engine 4 is now available for the public to download for free, Epic Games has announced today.
Unreal Engine 4, which is capable of being used in game development, film, VR and animation, was previously priced at $19.00 per month in 2014.
According to Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney, the new free-to-download model for Unreal Engine 4 allows the company to take “a 5% royalty on gross revenue after the first $3,000 per product, per quarter.”
“The past year has been a whirlwind for everyone at Epic Games,” he said in a blog post. “Our community has grown massively. The quality and variety of creative work being done has been breathtaking.
“When we asked people to submit their projects to be shown this year at GDC, we had the challenge of picking just eight from over 100 finalists that were all good enough to show.”
Check out Tim Sweeney’s special Unreal Engine 4 video message below.
Epic Games also believes that the Unreal Engine 4 is versatile when it comes to the development of either indie games or AAA titles, with it also including 100% of the C++ source code.
“The state of Unreal is strong, and we’ve realized that as we take away barriers, more people are able to fulfill their creative visions and shape the future of the medium we love,” Sweeney explained. “That’s why we’re taking away the last barrier to entry, and going free.
“In Epic’s 25 years as an independent company, we have seen no time of greater opportunity for developers than today. Whatever your development aspirations, Epic stands with you, both as a technology provider, and as a fellow game developer counting on UE4 to power our own games.”
In addition to the news being announced, Epic Games also released a montage video (see below) consisting of games that have utilized the power of the Unreal Engine, including Tekken 7, Hellblade, Mortal Kombat X and Dead Island 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5orTzUuZPOg&feature=youtu.be
Via Tim Sweeney & Epic Games