Epic Games Announces New Pricing Structure to Use Its Unreal Engine

Fortnite developer Epic Games has announced a new pricing structure for non-game developers to use its Unreal Engine, the company’s video development tool, after hinting at the change last year. The company will charge an annual “per seat” subscription fee of $1,850. The technical jargon for “per seat” basically refers to “a person using the software.” These changes will be implemented with the release of Unreal Engine 5.4 in late April.

New Unreal Engine pricing and licensing is coming in late April 🧵

Get ALL the details in our blog: https://t.co/yidori2Bqq pic.twitter.com/zb4une6lOu

— Unreal Engine🔜GDC (@UnrealEngine) March 12, 2024

New Pricing Fee Structure 

Despite being mainly recognized as a tool for game developers, Unreal Engine is frequently utilized in a wide range of industries, which is where this pricing structure comes in. Businesses that create immersive experiences, such as theme park rides, and in-car infotainment systems, like TV series and movies, will also be required to pay the $1,850 fee. At the moment, Epic receives no payment from most of these users because the final products don’t pay royalties.

Those exempt and non-exempt from the pricing fee structure

Game developers will still be required to pay a 5 percent royalty on products that generate over $1 million in lifetime gross revenue to gain access to Epic’s tools. So these changes do not affect them. Rather, non-game developers who use the Unreal Engine to create linear content like movies and TV shows, infotainment systems in cars, or immersive experiences like theme park rides that aren’t sold to consumers will have to pay the new per-seat (effectively per user) subscription fee.

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With the new pricing structure, not all non-game developers will be required to pay for the Unreal Engine. The new subscription fee will not apply to certain non-game developers. These include hobbyists, educators, and businesses with yearly gross revenue of less than $1 million. Furthermore, businesses that create Unreal Engine plug-ins are still able to use the program for free; in these situations, Epic will still receive payment through the revenue-sharing model found in its Unreal Engine Marketplace. The price adjustments will only have an impact on users using Unreal Engine 5.3 or any earlier version if they decide to update to 5.4.

Unreal Engine

These users can access the Unreal Engine itself, the Twinmotion real-time visualization tool. They can also access the RealityCapture 3D modeling software from the company by paying an annual fee. Organizations can buy separate licenses for each, though. Twinmotion will set you back $445 annually, while RealityCapture will set you back $1250.

 Pay-per download strategy

Epic’s new pricing strategy follows a contentious pay-per-download strategy introduced by a rival company called Unity. This reversed the move after facing intense criticism from the gaming community. Epic claims that its new pricing strategy will only apply to games created with Unreal Engine 5.4. It is the most recent version of its software. Game developers, who are Epic’s primary customer base, will still be able to use Unreal Engine at no cost, with just a five percent software royalty to pay. In 2020, Epic increased the royalty-free threshold from $50,000 to $1 million.

With this new pricing structure, Epic Games intends to stay clear of similar mistakes. Furthermore, it looks to keep offering developers from a variety of industries a strong and adaptable engine. Next month is when the changes are scheduled to go into effect.

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