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First time submitter hoopsman notes that Crytek are matching the Unreal Engine 4 recent announcement, and writes:
"From the article:
Crytek counters Unreal Engine announcement with royalty-free "engine-as-a-service" available for under $10 a month.
Both programs are targeting small developers, but Crytek is making cost-effectiveness a main part of its pitch. The CryEngine program will cost developers $9.90 a month (or 9.90 Euros in Europe), with no royalties due to Crytek. On the other hand, Epic Games' program costs $19 a month, with developers having to pay the company 5 percent of gross revenues from all projects that use any part of the Unreal Engine code.
Crytek's program also supports "all of today's leading platforms," while the Unreal Engine subscription currently does not extend to consoles. Because part of that program involves giving developers access to the full C++ source code, Epic said that various non-disclosure agreements are keeping it from adding the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of Unreal Engine 4 to the program (for the moment, at least)."
(Score: 2, Informative) by michealpwalls on Friday March 21 2014, @09:52AM
As a student studying computer programming/systems analysis I think this is pretty cool news.
The offering from Epic (Unreal Engine 4 with a $19/month subscription fee and a 5% gross royalty) is pretty tough. Bringing a game to market isn't cheap and there's no shortage of companies with their hands out as it is... To pay 5% off the top before filling those hands is a lot more than some might expect.
I think this is really good for budding developers, like myself and in fact like kids growing up. For educational purposes and for the production of Free, Linux-supported games this is stunning news!
IANAL (I'm not a lawyer), but from what I can infer, these licenses both allow for a lot more freedom than some commentors seem to have noticed. Firstly, the subscription is monthly however when you stop paying it, you do retain the current code-base you previously paid for, however with no new code updates, support or etc. If you are releasing the game for free, you do not have to pay the royalty fee (For Unreal).
Again, I'm not a lawyer but I think if you license the engine for ~$9.90 and it takes you and your team 6 months to develop a free game for Linux, you pay the 6*9.90 for the 6 months and can stop paying after the game is done and in the repositories. Since it's free, it's perfectly legal and royalty free.
Also, checkout Unity. I couldn't make a decent looking stick-man figure, but with Unity you can go to the Asset Store and purchase graphics-assets from artists. Brilliant!