Epic Games, the team behind the Gears of War franchise and Infinity Blade series, just made a move this week at the Game Developers Conference that could open the door to a series of new developers.
Founder Tim Sweeney has announced a new business model for the company that will make the Unreal Engine set of tools and source code available to developers for a bargain basement price. The service will run would-be game makers only $19 a month, as well as 5 percent of gross revenue from the game.
This is a huge change of pace from what the company previously requested, between a $99 license fee and 25 percent of game earnings if it managed to make over $50,000. Of course, flat fee deals can still be negotiated, as always. That’s the way big publishers prefer to work with Unreal Engine.
With rising costs in game development, Sweeney believes this move will be beneficial to up-and-comers. “We succeed with this only if developers succeed in making great games,” he said.
Source: The Verge
