Unreal Engine 4 is Now Free

The free version of Unreal Engine 4 now available to developers is not a trial or sample edition, Tim Sweeney reveals.

Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4 is now available to developers for free, Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney announced the news Monday in a blog post titled "If you love something, set it free."

Last year Epic Games announced the subscription-based Unreal Engine program, now current subscribers will receive a pro-rated refund and all who have ever paid for an Unreal Engine 4 subscription will receive a $30 credit good in the Unreal Engine Marketplace.

Now that anyone can download the Unreal Engine 4 for free, creators must pay a 5 percent royalty on gross revenue following the first $3,000 per product, per quarter.

This means, "Epic succeeds only when creators succeed," the developer said.

"This is the complete technology Epic uses to build their own games," Epic Games explained. "Unreal Engine 4 scales from indie projects to high-end blockbusters; it supports major platforms; and, it includes 100% of the C++ source code. Epic's goal is to give developers everything, so they can do anything and be in control of their own schedule and their own destiny. Whatever is required to build and ship a game can be found in UE4, sourced in the Marketplace, or built and shared it with others."

"In Epic's 25 years as an independent company, we have seen no time of greater opportunity for developers than today," Sweeney said. "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."

Epic has also released a sizzle reel that shows numerous Unreal Engine 4-powered games, including Hellblade, DMC: Definitive Edition, and Batman: Arkham Knight, among others.