Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, says the company is adjusting the pricing for Unreal Engine for non-gaming developers who work in industries like film, television, and automotive.
In a presentation at Unreal Fest 2023, a user on X (formerly Twitter) by @ImmatureGamerX recorded Sweeney mentioning “we haven’t officially announced this, but in the interest of transparency, we want to put it out there.”
Although there was no mention of specific pricing, it appears as though Epic’s licensing will closely reflect that of popular tools like Photoshop and Maya.
Understandably, Sweeney seemed determined to differentiate Epic’s price hike from that of Unity. Fortunately, Unity did end up walking back many of the more controversial changes they introduced related to runtime installs.
In addition, the Epic CEO took some time to address recent layoffs in which up to 16% of the workforce was let go. According to Sweeney, “this was a survival move that was necessary”, adding that Epic started running into “financial problems” several months ago, but seems confident that this shift puts things back on solid ground.
One thing, we stabilized our finances so we won’t run out of money as we build the metaverse.
Tim Sweeney
Epic Games has been bullish on the construction of a virtual universe, making partnerships with Meta, Microsoft, and more to develop standards for it.
Sweeney continued by explaining that the revenue of its highly successful industry blockbuster battle royale game, Fortnite, had subsidized other parts of Epic and that a change was necessary. He basically said that the company became too reliant on its financial success, with other aspects of the business getting disconnected.
The CEO went on to praise the Epic Games Store, believing it to be a “cure to a disease that’s impacting a lot of the industry right now, where the mobile platforms have become overlords and are extracting vastly higher payment processing fees than any same payment process around there…and we’re fighting that.”
In the past, Sweeney went to legal war against both Apple and Google with regard to mobile payments.
Sweeney’s speech concluded by saying, “In summary, this is a pivotal moment for us…our commitment now is to operate differently. We are determined to avoid falling back into a precarious position. Through the highs and lows, we promise to support you.”