ue4 Licence Violation on free games

Sorry for my english. When I’m was trying download engine creating license page occured

. Which licence I may select to create FREE game wo licence violation? Fist one has been deny for free projects, Second one has been deny games create. Please help me make right chose.

The publishing license is for you. If you don’t make any money, there’s no royalty to pay :slight_smile:

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So if I make a movie, which is not an interactive product I don’t have to pay royalties?

If you make money off that movie one way or another, you have to pay royalties. There is EULA and FAQ, which are pretty clear on when you pay and not pay royalties.

Yes, that “interactive” is misleading they should delete that word. Just every time you have an income of more than 1million$ and you used any unreal 4 code, you must pay the royalty

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From what I understand, if you make a movie (non-interactive media) then you don’t owe royalties ever

That’s incorrect. Like @darthviper107 said, if you produce non-interactive media, you don’t pay any royalties and the Creators license is for you.

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Both buttons at the bottom of those license lists lead to the same download link. It’s not like you download a different version of engine that tracks what you do with it.

All that download page is literally saying is basically:

  • If you use the engine to make a game, and sell that game, then if you make over $1M since you started selling that game, you will have to start paying epic 5% of your revenue."
  • If you use the engine to make something that’s not a game, such as movie, visualization, etc… Basically something you do not sell as an interactive product, then you don’t have to pay them, no matter how much money you make.

There’s somewhat inspecific case where you’d use UE4 to create for example software, not a game, or something that’s not a game, but is interactive. In that case, I’d still expect the Publishing license will apply.

The bottom line is though, that the download page is a little bit confusing, making you think that by selecting either of the two downloading buttons, you are choosing different versions of the engine, but that’s most likely not true.

So Disney pays nothing to Epic having used UE4 in Mandalorian production? I seriously doubt that.

They most likely have a custom license.

Who knows… I just looked at the licensing page and tool tip says linear media are pre-rendered TV shows and movies. Why would Disney get custom license when legally they didn’t have to?

FAQ says:

  • Unreal Engine End User License Agreement for Creators: This license is free to use and 100% royalty-free; you can use it to create internal or free projects, or to develop linear content or custom projects for clients, but not for publishing off-the-shelf offerings.

What does Epic consider a “movie/TV series for off-the-shelf offering” and a “movie/TV series for NOT off-the-shelf offering” ?

A movie made to be published on paid streaming service vs free YouTube movies where revenue made through ads / donations ? A deeper clarification is needed IMO.

Not quite right – if you SHIP any Unreal 4 code, you owe the license.
If you use Unreal as just another movie making tool (think of it as a Cinema4D, Renderman, or Adobe After Effects) and render out a static movie, then you don’t need to pay the engine licese.
If you ship an executable that provides the same visuals on a PC when run, however, then that would include UE4 code, and needs the royalties.

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Because once business is big enough, relationships and specifics matter more than the standard boilerplate “this is our first proposal” words.

You will note that there is always the opportunity to negotiate a separate license with EPIC. What you get from them, and what you pay to them, may vary (sometimes a lot) based on how those negotiations go. But it’s not worth the time/effort for EPIC to do those negotiations unless you regularly count your budget in the millions of dollars – bizdev costs and legal costs can presumably go to $50k or more for a large-ish contract, when you count the costs of the people involved, so the payoff for that contract needs to be appropriately sized as well.

Maybe but to create a custom license you need to work on some sort of company that uses UE4

Film, television, broadcast, live events, creative/advertising are not royalty-bearing. Totally free unless you wish to purchase support. You can read more in the licensing FAQ: unrealengine.com/faq

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A custom license also includes support, which is a big deal for large companies. I’m pretty sure Disney had Epic staff on-site to assist them with their setup at some point.

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