Unreal Engine New Subscription Price Announced

Unreal Engine just priced indie filmmakers out of the market. We need to find a new rendering software TODAY!

Hold up there, cowboy. It’s not what you think.

Ready for the hard to swallow pill?

“If you’re worried about it, then you probably don’t make enough for it to actually affect you. And if you do make enough, then it’s a tax write off anyway.”

The Announcement

Epic Games just announced the new pricing model for Unreal Engine this morning and it has indie filmmakers and students terrified! While I was having my morning coffee and scrolling the feeds, I saw post after post from people talking about the news like the apocalypse was raining down upon us. But trust me, it’s not the end of the world scenario that some might think it is so don’t lock yourself in your Armageddon bunkers just yet.

For Game Developers

First off, if you’re a game developer, nothing changes. It’s the same model as it’s always been: 5% royalty after you cross $1 million in revenue. So it’s still a free to use engine for students, hobbyists, and most small indie studios. So you’re safe, game devs. I’d say you guys can go now but you’ll want to stick around because your filmmaker friends are going to need your support more than ever to ease their anxiety.

For Filmmakers (and everyone else)

For the filmmakers out there: it’s basically the same thing. Until you cross $1 million in revenue, Unreal Engine is still free to use. Yes, even for commercial projects.

Not making millions yet? Unreal Engine is still free to use for students, educators, hobbysists, and lower-revenue businesses. That’s right, even if you are making money off of your filmmaking with Unreal Engine, there is probably nothing for you to worry about. And if you are making more than $1 million off your filmmaking, don’t waste your time worrying about a small fee. You should be out celebrating!

Besides, filmmakers still have it better than game developers on the pricing model. I said what I said. Let’s break down the math:

When a game’s revenue hits $1 million, the 5% royalty kicks in. 5% of $1 million is….. $50,000. Check your smartphone’s calculator if you don’t believe me.

For filmmakers and any companies not creating games, the new pricing model is $1850 per seat.

BUT THAT'S PER SEAT, JOHN!

Slow down, cowboy. Yes, that’s per seat. And we all know that things add up. But if you’re an indie filmmaker with a small crew then you have what? 3 or 4 people using Unreal at most? $1850 times 4 is $7400. A long ways off from the $50,000 that indie game studio is paying (and not worried about because they are all calling home to mom to tell her game dev made them a million dollars!)

But let’s think about bigger companies. When I was VAD lead working on the Star Wars show Ahsoka on Disney Plus, we had a fairly large VAD team of 13 people including me using Unreal Engine. That would have equaled out to $24,050 total if we only made $1 million in revenue. And trust me, we made a LOT more than $1 million in revenue off of that one show. If you add in the production team, that’s a couple more people, the DPs that’s a couple more, then the pre-viz team had 4 that I worked with directly. We’re at 21 now. And then even if you count that Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau each had 2 machines as separate “seats”, that puts us at 25.

With 25 seats, the Unreal bill comes out to $46,250. That’s almost 4 grand less than what that indie game studio making $1 million just had to pay. And if that game studio hit $2 million, they’d be paying $100,000. Now keep in mind that most of us were also working on other Star Wars shows too, all making way more than $1 million. Believe me when I say that a company like Disney doesn’t even register $46,000 on their radar. In fact, looking at a lot of the other software used on these productions, Unreal is still one of the cheapest on the list.

Breathe Easy

So breathe easy, my friends. If you were worried about the new pricing model, you’re probably not affected.

But if you’re new to Unreal Engine and the new pricing model was scaring you away, then don’t worry! It’s not going to affect you either. And now is still one of the best times to start learning this powerful software. Check out my Unreal Engine Pro Materclass and the free first module that can have a beginner up and running in less than an hour. And don’t worry if you’re taking a live class already, the masterclass is not actually in competition with live classes and many students use it as a supplemental resource. Nothing beats live mentorship and I still do that myself. Check out my live classes with CG Pro.

So don’t worry about that new pricing model, friends. We’re all good. So now let’s go out and make something Unreal together!