Hello.
I am a member of a video production company.
My department is looking to start a business using virtual studios created with the Unreal Engine…
Specifically, the business is to create backgrounds with the Unreal Engine, composite green-screened people with the Unreal Engine, and live stream.
It means that the Unreal Engine system is used in the live delivery without distributing a packaged exe.
We will sell you the cost of making the backdrops and the equipment and labor used for live distribution.
If so, do I need to pay the license fee to Epic?
For example, if I make 5 million yen in sales per month, how much do I have to pay?
I remember that it was free of charge up to 100 million yen in sales, but I am not sure…
Hey there @vs_studio! I’m mostly support for the actual use of the engine, but I can answer this as I’m also an indie developer who uses unreal.
The specifics should be listed here in the EULA
When reading through pay extra attention to chapters 1 - 6, and then the Royalty Addendum section 1 - 7. You must determine if your service/product would qualify to have to pay the 5% royalty first, as it’s usually after $1mil USD in sales in total lifetime, but certain business types and layouts would be subject to the 5% regardless.
If this is a bigger operation you may have to look into custom licensing.
I noticed you mentioned Yen as the currency, so I would request to check and see if the rates are different in the other language versions of the EULA as I only have experience as a developer in the US. Hope this helps!
Since I’m currently using UE for pre rendered content, though not specifically streaming, still interested in this topic.
Section 3, a:
a. Royalty-Free Distribution
As described in this Section 3(a), you may Distribute certain Products to certain persons or entities without any obligation to pay us royalties, even if you are monetizing that Distribution.
i. Non-Engine Products (e.g., Rendered Video Files)
You will not owe us any royalty payments for Distributing Products that (i) do not include any Engine Code, (ii) do not require any Engine Code to run and (iii) do not include Starter Content in source format (“Non-Engine Products ”) to any person or entity.
This means, for example, you will not owe us royalties for Distributing:
● rendered video files (e.g., broadcast or streamed video files, cartoons, movies, or images) created using the Engine Code (even if the video files include Starter Content) or
● asset files, such as character models and animations, other than Starter Content, that you developed using the Engine Code, including in Products that use or rely on other video game engines.
Please note that certain assets that we make available under separate agreement are available for use only with Unreal Engine.
Hi pezzott1
Thank you for your answer.
Section 3 contained many very important items.
It was very clear because it mentioned live broadcasts!
Thank you very much.
