I have a question regarding the Unreal EULA and whether it allows the distribution of a precompiled plugin for Unreal Engine to third parties in other ways than the Unreal Engine Marketplace and not through a fork of Epic’s GitHub UnrealEngine Network.
Currently, I’m developing a plugin, which I would like to distribute to third parties for feedback and testing.
The plugin is in an early experimental stage and not suited for the Unreal Marketplace (yet),
also I would prefer not to share my plugin either via source code or as object code through Epic’s GitHub UnrealEngine Network.
My plugin would be precompiled e.g. distributed as .dll or .obj and the plugin requires and only works in the Unreal Engine version it was compiled for.
Also, the plugin would not provide any Engine Tools or Engine Source Code as part of the distribution.
Additionally, any headers (source code) and assets in the Content directory distributed are my own.
Does the EULA permit distributing precompiled plugins to third parties in such a case?
I found the following passages in the EULA that might be relevant and which state:
- … “If you want to share the Licensed Technology or anything you make with it, Sections 3 and 4 below address when and how you can do that” …
- “If you develop products, services, or any other projects that (i) are made using any Licensed Technology or (ii) combine any Licensed Technology with any other software or content (collectively “Products”), you may only Distribute those Products as expressly permitted in this Section 3. Any Product that you Distribute that incorporates Licensed Technology must incorporate the Licensed Technology only in object code and only as an inseparable part of the Product.”
- iii. C. “To other third parties who are separately licensed by us to use the Engine Code, through either the Unreal Engine Marketplace or through a fork of Epic’s GitHub UnrealEngine Network.”
Further, I have difficulties interpreting the above section “(3) iii. C.”: Shall it be interpreted as:
- I am only allowed to distribute my precompiled plugin via the Unreal Engine Marketplace or through a fork of Epic’s GitHub UnrealEngine Network.
Or
- I am only allowed to distribute my precompiled plugin to third parties that are separately licensed by Epic to use the Engine Code and the license was granted to them via the Unreal Engine Marketplace or through a fork of Epic’s GitHub UnrealEngine Network.
Further, the EULA states that “This means, for example, you may Distribute a plugin, modding tool, or editor to end users through the Unreal Engine Marketplace or through Epic’s Unreal Engine GitHub repository”. Does this mean that the only possible way to share or distribute plugins would be via the Unreal Engine Marketplace or through a fork of Epic’s GitHub UnrealEngine Network?
Otherwise, would it be enough to comply with the EULA by manually checking whether the third party to whom I would like to distribute my plugin, is part of Epic’s GitHub UnrealEngine Network to ensure that they are licensed by Epic to use the Engine Code, or in general have an Unreal Engine locally installed already?
Or otherwise under which circumstances would the distribution of a precompiled plugin outside of the Unreal Engine Marketplace or through a fork of Epic’s GitHub Unreal Engine Network be allowed?
Thank you in advance