My company offers a two-day “curiosity” event that includes a gamejam. I am interested in using Unreal to make a project for the next event, but there are questions on the royalty program. We develop games through Unity and had concerns that the 5% royalty after making over $3000 on a game would include the products that have been made through Unity.
Does the royalty program for the Engine only cover sales for games made through Unreal? Would it still be free for us to use the Engine for a gamejam event?
The 5% royalty applies to your products made using UE4. Unless it contained Unreal Engine code, a Unity-based game wouldn’t be covered under the UE EULA.
Hello, thank you for your previous response and apologies for bringing this back up after a few months.
There’s still a little concern about the fact that this event is during work hours, so we’re still paid for our time as normal during the event. The Royalty section of the EULA includes:
g. Revenue in any other form actually attributable to a Product (unless excluded below).
Does this mean that normal hourly wages would be a factor in determining whether the royalty fee applies? Would it apply in the situation of a game jam-like company event?
Hourly wages should not apply. The revenue would only be money that your company makes from the product itself; Unless you are a contractor selling your Unreal project to your company as a packaged game, wages paid for development work done in on behalf of your company would not count as revenue.