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Epic relaxes indie royalty rates for Unreal Development Kit projects

No fees required until Unreal engine games pass $50,000 in revenue

Epic Games has altered the royalty system for use of its Unreal Engine, apparently intending to make rates easier on small developers.

Where previously developers using the 'free' version of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK) were required to pay Epic 25 per cent of net revenues once their game achieved $5000 in sales, the threshold has now been raised to $50,000.

The new deal will likely prove particularly useful to developers of iOS and other mobile titles.

Commented Epic VP Mark Rein on the firm's forums, "We realize that a lot of you are just started in the business so not having to pay royalties on your first $50,000 should help you get a financial footing toward building a quality game development business."

Non-commercial use of UDK is completely free, but as well as the 25 per cent cut for revenues above $50,000, Epic requires a $99 up-front fee if a project is to be offered for sale.

More details on the license are available here.

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Alec Meer

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A 10-year veteran of scribbling about video games, Alec primarily writes for Rock, Paper, Shotgun, but given any opportunity he will escape his keyboard and mouse ghetto to write about any and all formats.

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