On top of unveiling Unreal Engine 5 today, Epic Games announced that developers who build games with the Unreal Engine will no longer pay royalties on their first $1 million in revenue.The Unreal Engine has been free for anyone to use for a while, but until this change, 5 percent royalties were due on commercial Unreal Engine games once they made $3,000 in a quarter. This new $1 million threshold in is measured in lifetime revenue.It isn't too complicated, but for example, a game which made $2 million in gross revenue would owe Epic Games $50,000, because it would pay 5 percent of $1 million, keeping the first million entirely—minus whatever other fees are owed, such as Steam's cut. For Unreal Engine games released on the Epic Games Store, Epic still waves the five percent royalty fee entirely, so you just pay the 12 percent Epic Store distribution fee.For comparison, Unity doesn't draw any royalties from commercial games. Instead, the engine maker charges $1,800 a year for Pro license, which is required for Unity installations in companies that have brought in $200,000 or more revenue or funding in the past 12 months.
