Hello,
I recently downloaded the Unreal Engine 4. While reading the Terms and Conditions stuff, I saw a rule which mentioned that the user is obliged to pay money to “Epic Games”. I was a little confused with this rule. In case I release a game made with UE 4, and I don’t get any money (either because I give it for free or I didn’t manage to sell the game) have I still to pay money to “Epic Games”?
I will be grateful if anyone answers this question.
Hi there,
You will not owe Epic anything if you release a game for free. Even if you release it commercially you won’t owe anything if you make less than $3000 per quarter (3 months). You only pay the 5% royalty if you have made more than $3000 in one quarter, and only on the amount over $3000. For example, if you made $10,000 in one quarter, you would owe 5% royalty for $7000 only, not the total amount.
Here is a quote from the FAQ:
If I release a commercial product,
what royalties are due to Epic, and
when?
Generally, you are obligated to
pay to Epic 5% of all gross revenue
after the first $3,000 per game or
application per calendar quarter,
regardless of what company collects
the revenue. For example, if your
product earns $10 from sales on the
App Store, the royalty due is $0.50
(5% of $10), even though you would
receive roughly $7 from Apple after
they deduct their distribution fee of
roughly $3 (30% of $10).
You can read more in the official FAQ and Release guidelines here:
Hope that helps clear things up for you! Let us know if you have any further questions.
Thanks,