With the game development world already reeling from the Unity Runtime Fee price change announcement, any talk of price changes for Unreal Engine are bound to cause more than a bit of concern. In a recent presentation, explaining the major layoffs at Epic Games, Epic Games CEO made some announcements about upcoming pricing changes to Unreal Engine coming in 2024.
The talk was captured by Fortnite creator ImmatureGamerX in this Twitter thread:
Tim does mention a move to a per seat or subscription model in 2024 for Unreal Engine users, but this price change only applies to non-game development users. The example he gives is Automotive industry, but it would also apply to video production, architects, etc. People that use Unreal Engine commercially, but in a non-game setting or in a way that won’t result in royalties.
It is also important to note, as discussed in this 2019 Spatial OS controversy, Unreal Engine is under a perpetual EULA, so these changes will only apply to future versions of Unreal Engine.
You can learn more about the upcoming price changes to Unreal Engine in 2024 and the move to per seat licensing for non-game development professional users in the video below.