Unreal Engine 4 now free for all

Epic Games has announced that its development suite Unreal Engine 4 is now free for everyone.

Where’s the catch? You might have to pay a royalty per product (although you might not).

The scheme is refreshingly simple. No massive contract, no endless list of terms and conditions, the official announcement sums up how it works: "you pay a 5 percent royalty on gross revenue after the first $3,000 per product, per quarter".

Or, as Epic sums up: "we succeed only when you succeed". If you only make $2,900 per quarter, you don’t pay a penny.

And in addition, you pay nothing "for film projects, contracting and consulting projects such as architecture, simulation and visualization".

Developing great games is still going to be a monumental challenge, but if you’ve a great idea, technical expertise and a huge amount of determination then at least you’ve now one less cost to worry about.

The entirely free Unreal Engine 4 is available now.