Re:Unreal Engine will no longer be free for all
by Night_Thastus on Friday October 06, 2023 @12:12PM
(#37792653)
I don't really see this as "enshittification". This is completely expected and people knew for years something like this was coming.
Epic has been trying to use the money from Fortnite's success to build a more stable platform. They've dumped endless amounts of Fortnite money on paying developers for Epic exclusivity, lower cuts from developers, developing their storefront, developing Unreal Engine, etc.
This was not done out of the goodness of their hearts. They wanted to see a return. They needed to break into the market more and now they have.
Now that they've firmly planted themselves with a lot of games on EGS, and a lot of games using Unreal, they want that return on investment. Not surprising.
Epic has been trying to use the money from Fortnite's success to build a more stable platform. They've dumped endless amounts of Fortnite money on paying developers for Epic exclusivity, lower cuts from developers, developing their storefront, developing Unreal Engine, etc.
This was not done out of the goodness of their hearts. They wanted to see a return. They needed to break into the market more and now they have.
Now that they've firmly planted themselves with a lot of games on EGS, and a lot of games using Unreal, they want that return on investment. Not surprising.