By<\/span> <\/span> Mia Sato<\/a><\/span>, platforms and communities reporter with five years of experience covering the companies that shape technology and the people who use their tools.<\/span><\/span><\/span>
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Fortnite<\/em> developer Epic Games is changing the way it charges people who use its creation tool Unreal Engine sometime next year \u2014 but only for a subset of users, according to CEO Tim Sweeney (via Game From Scratch<\/em><\/a>).<\/em>
Game developers using Unreal Engine won\u2019t be affected and will continue to pay for a license based on a royalty model<\/a>. However, users in industries like film or automotive will be moved to per-seat pricing, meaning they\u2019ll be charged for the subscription the same way someone might pay for Photoshop.
In posts on X<\/a>, Sweeney clarified that educators and students will be able to continue to use Unreal Engine for free, and there will be a minimum revenue threshold for indie filmmakers and others whose commercial projects earn below a certain amount \u2014 though Sweeney didn\u2019t specify what that threshold would be.
The news was announced<\/a> by Sweeney at Epic Games\u2019 Unreal Fest event this week and follows significant layoffs at the company in September. Sixteen percent \u2014 or around 830 employees \u2014 lost their jobs<\/a>, with Sweeney saying that the company had been \u201cspending way more money than we earn.\u201d Epic also announced it would sell Bandcamp<\/a>, a platform for independent music artists it acquired last year, and spin off SuperAwesome, a company focused on \u201ckid-safe\u201d digital experiences.
Epic\u2019s announcement that it would change Unreal Engine pricing comes less than a month after Unity\u2019s disastrous rollout<\/a> of a new pricing model that would have charged developers a flat rate fee each time a Unity game is installed. After backlash from developers, the company backtracked and announced<\/a> an updated system and a \u201cfireside chat\u201d<\/a> to try to explain the debacle.
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By Mia Sato, platforms and communities reporter with five years of experience covering the companies that shape technology and the people who use their tools.If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.Fortnite developer Epic Games is changing the way it charges people who use its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n