Epic Games has announced the launch of a new program, “Launch Everywhere with Epic,” which offers game developers greater benefits using the Unreal Engine and the Epic Games Store platform. As part of this initiative, Epic is reducing Unreal Engine royalties from 5% to 3.5%, but with the condition that games will be available on the Epic Games Store on the day of their release.
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The program will go into effect on January 1, 2025 and will be available to all games built on the popular Unreal Engine that are released on the Epic Games Store from then on. According to The Verge, the innovation is aimed at encouraging developers to place their games on the Epic Games platform, including the recently launched stores for Android and iOS.
The royalty reduction will apply to all platforms on which developers publish their games, including consoles. The company believes this can significantly increase developers’ income, especially if the game is a hit on multiple platforms, since they will have to pay less to use the Unreal Engine.
However, if an Unreal Engine game is released on other platforms, such as Android, but does not appear on the Epic Games Store, the royalty will return to the previous 5%. iOS games are not yet required to have a simultaneous release on the Epic Games Store due to Apple’s Core Technology Fee, but Epic warns that it may revise this policy in the future by giving developers four months’ notice.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that Epic waives royalties on sales on the Epic Games Store if their own payment system is used. Also, a percentage of royalties for the Unreal Engine begins to be charged only after the game’s revenue exceeds $1 million. It is believed that this proposal may be of interest to developers, especially those who previously lost confidence in Unity after the scandal with the new payment model for using the engine.