Epic To Update Unreal Engines Pricing Targeting Industries Outside of Game Development

The other week Unity blew up the game development side of the internet by introducing new fees for their users which received quite a lot of deserved backlash. Following this Epic Games has taken a risk by announcing some pricing changes for their Unreal Engine software which fortunately do seem much more well thought out and fair for everyone involved.

Unreal Engine Pricing Changes

As reported by gamedeveloper.com, Epic’s CEO Tim Sweeney has made a new announcement at Unreal Fest 2023 which has an end goal of helping Epic stay afloat. Recently the company laid off almost 900 employees and Sweeney has claimed that Epic began running into “financial problems” about 10 weeks ago so right now the priority is getting the company in the green which leads to this new pricing plan.

The new plan involves a move to per-seat licensing for those outside of the gaming industry and looks at those using Unreal Engine in film, TV, automotive and other industries which have previously been able to use Unreal Engine commercially without having to pay any fees as they weren’t producing games. The”per-seat” license will help build revenue for Epic through Unreal outside of the gaming industry. Sweeney claims that this fee will not be “unusually expensive or unusually inexpensive” and will be similar to subscription services such as Maya or Photoshop. Below is a video from Immature, a Fortnite Pro, who recorded Sweeney’s announcement.

Of course, there are concerns and gameforscratch.com reached out for some information surrounding how this will affect Indie Film developers who don’t make much money from their projects. Sweeney responded in a tweet stating that “There will be minimum revenue thresholds for commercial projects and student/educator use will remain free”. This should alleviate some concerns from indie film-makers and furthermore, for educators, Sweeney clarified that there won’t be any sort of DRM to limit access for those who aren’t attached to an educational institution.

These changes should be a good move for Unreal Engine and Epic as a good way to solidify their revenue outside of Fortnite. Some people may not be happy about having to pay a fee, but if the fee is reasonable for the service they’ve been using for free to make a profit, there shouldn’t be any issues.