UDK Royalty Threshold Raised to US $50,000.00
polycounter lvl 17
http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=764485
Taken from the epic boards posted by Mark Rein himself:
Hi folks,
We just wanted to let you know that we've raised the revenue threshold for UDK. Under the new rules you are not required to pay royalties on revenue earned from the use of UDK until that revenue exceeds US$50,000 which represents a 10-times increase over the previous threshold of US$5,000.
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 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.
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.
Here are links to some examples that illustrate how UDK royalties work.
UDK Pricing Example 1.jpg
UDK Pricing Example 2.jpg
Taken from the epic boards posted by Mark Rein himself:
Hi folks,
We just wanted to let you know that we've raised the revenue threshold for UDK. Under the new rules you are not required to pay royalties on revenue earned from the use of UDK until that revenue exceeds US$50,000 which represents a 10-times increase over the previous threshold of US$5,000.
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 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.
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.
Here are links to some examples that illustrate how UDK royalties work.
UDK Pricing Example 1.jpg
UDK Pricing Example 2.jpg
Replies
So within a few months of sales (considering the cost of the operation) you will be paying royalties, which means you'll lose 30% of your income after apple has had its way with it up til the day you stop using UDK.
So in the end, it's really nice of them, but in a bigger scope it doesn't change much at all since it's still not a per game basis.
great news!
Sorry, mixed up the numbers, meant 30% for apple and 25% for UDK.
I'm just wondering if it's really worth the 25% royalties in a marketplace where the choice of engine will not impact the sales as heavily as making a product that sells.
And as in the words you choose, you're not losing money, you're adding to the price, and that price will be higher than what competitors are putting on their similar products.
Using UDK for PC and it's feature set blows away those of anything else in this price range.
You are getting a million dollar plus engine for super cheap up front. You spend your money making your game and if it tanks and you don't make anything than you aren't neck deep in debt for the rest or eternity.
It should help Indie Devs a ton and hopefully give hope to new start ups or guys that someday want to start something up.
For newcomers and 1-2 person teams though I wouldn't recommend it due to the fact that you can't even begin to utilize the things that makes it a more powerful tool than all the others, or even compared to writing your own simple game from scratch.
But especially when most still think it applies per game, Epic doesn't front that detail very much.