Like making money off of your mods and other gaming projects? Epic has some good news for you UDK users out there, as creators are now only required to pay royalties on revenue earned if the profits exceed $50,000 (US dollars). This is a pretty generous move on Epic’s part, as the wider threshold is ten times larger than the previous $5,000 line.
“We’re really excited about folks making some amazing things with UDK and we realize that a lot of you are just started in the business,” said Epic VP Mark Rein, “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.”
Rein went on to clarify a few basics on the matter: “One thing some folks didn’t seem to realize is that whether you sell your product through digital distribution (or a retail location) the company doing the sale to the end user (called the “retailer”) takes a cut (typically around 30%) for their efforts. The price they sell it for is called the retail price. The amount of money they pay to you on each sale is called the wholesale amount. When you pay us royalties you pay on the wholesale amount, i.e. the money you actually receive.”
There you have it–go wild and make those games, everyone–that money isn’t going to make itself.
