UDK Royalty Threshold Raised to US$50,000

[UDKKutigi77]

This is great news indeed.Thanks "Mark" and the team looking out for the starving Indie community. These are the stuff that will always keep Epic on top for years and years to come.

[stevenchau432]

I want ask some , I know UDK free royalty total is First 50000USD + 2nd to 10th game release every times 5000USD .
if Myfirstgame total profit 40,000USD , royalty 25% = 10000USD , so free royalty remains 40,000USD , and My 2ndgame to My10th game have profit is 4,000 USD for every release, royalty 25% = 1000USD , so every times remains 4000 USD , ok , now I already use 10 games release count, free royalty remains 40000USD + 36000 USD = 76000USD.
when I release My 11th game , the profit is 40,000 USD , royalty is 25%=10000USD , so the free royalty remains is 76000 -10000 = 66000USD ??? right ?
maybe when release 11th game , no any free royalty threshold give me ? because EPIC only give me 10 times free royalty game release ??

[ffejnosliw]

I want ask some , I know UDK free royalty total is First 50000USD + 2nd to 10th every times 5000USD .
if Myfirstgame total profit 40,000USD , royalty 25% = 10000USD , so free royalty remains 40,000USD , and My 2ndgame to My10th game have profit is 4,000 USD for every release, royalty 25% = 1000USD , so every times remains 4000 USD , ok , now I already use 10 games release count, free royalty remains 40000USD + 36000 USD = 76000USD.
when I release My 11th game , the profit is 40,000 USD , royalty is 25%=10000USD , so the free royalty remains is 76000 -10000 = 66000USD ??? right ?
maybe when release 11th game , no any free royalty threshold give me ? because EPIC only give me 10 times free royalty game release ??

You'll have to find a way to explain that more clearly because I cannot make out what you are asking at all.

[stevenchau432]

You'll have to find a way to explain that more clearly because I cannot make out what you are asking at all.

ok , sorry , I more clearly explain again .
when I release My 11th game , can still get free royalty ?
(because free royalty is First 50000USD and 2nd to 10th 5000usd)

[ffejnosliw]

Where did you get the 2nd through 10th thing from? Is that stated somewhere?

Your first $50,000 of total revenue from UDK is royalty free, regardless of how many games it takes you to achieve that number. After that you pay the 25% royalty. I think the Licensing page clearly explains how it works.

[stevenchau432]

Where did you get the 2nd through 10th thing from? Is that stated somewhere?

Your first $50,000 of total revenue from UDK is royalty free, regardless of how many games it takes you to achieve that number. After that you pay the 25% royalty. I think the Licensing page clearly explains how it works.

OH ! thank , I see , the free royalty total is 50000USD , regardless how many game release , no only first release.

( because I read Mark Rein say : which 10-times increase over of US$5,000. )
the [10 times ] mean , I guess is 10 times game release . Sorry , I understand wrong.

[ilguano]

OH ! thank , I see , the free royalty total is 50000USD , regardless how many game release , no only first release.

( because I read Mark Rein say : which 10-times increase over of US$5,000. )
the [10 times ] mean , I guess is 10 times game release . Sorry , I understand wrong.

omg dude you need to put more effort to your english...

[markpouncey]

You are too kind-- really. Nobody else does anything like this, nobody at all & i just LOVE the way you casually dropped the info. in a "by the way" fashion. My eyeballs almost fell out of my head when i read it last month ( was it last month ?). I would have said so sooner-- but just got permission to post this week & got confirmed for my UDK commercial developers license today !!! Kind Regards, mark-p.

[Hong]

So let's say I made a million with UDK and the sales are still going strong. If I purchase the license, do I still have to pay royalty?

So.. a better example. The game I released was made by UDK and has a subscription fee. Since the game is doing so well, can I purchase UE3 to prevent royalty or I have to pay royalty regardless because the game was made with UDK?

[Solid Snake]

This question is best discussed with the licensing department.

[saymoo]

So let's say I made a million with UDK and the sales are still going strong. If I purchase the license, do I still have to pay royalty?

So.. a better example. The game I released was made by UDK and has a subscription fee. Since the game is doing so well, can I purchase UE3 to prevent royalty or I have to pay royalty regardless because the game was made with UDK?

Contact: udklicensing@epicgames.com for questions regarding licensing

[Lost Haven]

Well done epic for raising the thresh hold of royalty . This is perfect for indie developers , the only way an ue license would be better is if you sold millions of copy's of your game .

[SJS2010]

Other Money Saving Methods:

1) Set some money aside and purchase a CD/DVD Duplicator, I have seen some that make up to 50 CD/DVD copies in one session.

2) Buy a decent laser printer, some empty CD or DVD cases, some blank DVDs (I think I bought 100 for around $35.00 the last time), some matte paper to print the cover design and book on, and a software package that can create cover layouts and small booklets (I have one called MediaFace II).

3) Not necessary, but will help; buy a Lightscribe Enabled DVD Burner for your computer (some duplicators have this tech installed already so after you burn the game burn the disc art.) to be able to burn the cover art for your game discs.

4) Since you made the game, sell it on Ebay, you're own website, and Amazon.com. I would make a point to charge tax in your state/country or whatever so that is covered. Offer decent shipping costs and ship them through the Post Office or other affordable shipping methods.


5) You could also make it so that your game is download only. After the player purchases the game they are able to download the game off of your website. No discs to burn, no art to print, and no shipping fees.

These methods are only if you're making a PC game. These items can be found on the following websites at very affordable prices:

www.newegg.com

www.shop4tech.com

If you release a console game to Wal-Mart, for instance, the consumer pays $59.99 for a game plus tax. That same game will have it's price dropped over time all the way down to $5.00 in some cases. If you ever see it stop dropping in price, then that's what they paid for it. My mother, father, and brother all own their own businesses so I know how sales work. A retailer will never sell a product for less than it cost them to put it on the shelves, if they do then they have marked up the price of something else associated with it to cover the costs. Microsoft does this with their X-Box's, they sell the x-box for less then they invested into it, but they get a large chunk from games sold for the console. This balances their costs and still provides them with a fairly large amount of income. They mark up the price so much so they can cover all of their purchases of your game with even a fraction of the products sales. But if you are the one selling it and not a retail store, then the majority of the profits return to you and incidentally Epic Games. Regardless of what they tell you, if you advertise through forums, you-tube, and anywhere else you can post images and videos of your game, you will gather a following of players wanting to purchase your game. Just make it affordable and you will make much more profit selling it yourself rather than through a retail store. Now I know some of you would rather let another company handle the printing and burning of the discs, but there are ways to do it without having to spend tons of money. You may in the future still decide to use a retail store as another outlet for your games, but just think about this: It's best to crawl before you try to walk much less run.

Don't believe me, think of how DOOM originally started out.

Just thought I would put that out for the public.

[lsc9x]

I sent a message to someone at Epic about this and never got a response, but this totally clarifies things and is a great deal!

so

THANK YOU for your update!

(Also, raising the entry bar to $50,000 is unbelievable.) THANK YOU, again!

[LittleMOM]

Great news EPIC !!!

[SnakeDoctor]

i love you epic!!!

[dsanjit]

Mark, Couple of questions:

(1) Your charts apply only for the FIRST game a company makes. If that game makes more than 50K then subsequent games will have to pay the full 25%. This means the developer has to pay 47.5% for all future games/services (30% to app store and 25% of the remaining 70% - wholesale price - to Epic) ... Right?

(2) If I am an external subcontractor company specializing the coding part of the game with UDK, for another studio (who supply me with 3DSMAX / Photoshop assets etc but dont use UDK) and then they package and sell the completed game under their label to digital distributors/App store. How does the royalty system work? Do I pay 25% of what the studio pays me to develop or do I have to involve them in the licensing scheme etc (which might be a tough)?

Thanks !
Sanjit

[Crusha K. Rool]

Mark, Couple of questions:

(1) Your charts apply only for the FIRST game a company makes. If that game makes more than 50K then subsequent games will have to pay the full 25%. This means the developer has to pay 47.5% for all future games/services (30% to app store and 25% of the remaining 70% - wholesale price - to Epic) ... Right?

(2) If I am an external subcontractor company specializing the coding part of the game with UDK, for another studio (who supply me with 3DSMAX / Photoshop assets etc but dont use UDK) and then they package and sell the completed game under their label to digital distributors/App store. How does the royalty system work? Do I pay 25% of what the studio pays me to develop or do I have to involve them in the licensing scheme etc (which might be a tough)?

Thanks !
Sanjit

@1: Just a guess, but I think you have to buy a new license for every UDK game you release, so I think the revenues do not stack.

@2: Depends on the company. If you are contracted on a royalty base to them, you will likely get your fair share of their profit after they paid the 25%. So indirectly you would also have paid Epic some amount that way.
But if you are contracted on a fixed amount, then you should definitely receive that and let the royalty stuff to them as you no longer have to do with them making profit of the UDK or related stuff.
Could someone official confirm?

[dsanjit]

Thanks Crusha. Anyone from Epic who can confirm - especially the first question ?

[maaria143]

This is really amazing post. I like to appreciate you for sharing such a informative post.

[UDKKutigi77]

Mark:

You all are constantly making history and this is a blessing to all of us starving Indie developers. From 5K to 50K Mark shows how much you all want us to make it regardless of the levels we decided to reach. That's totally sharing which = to LOVE!.
We love you and the Team back. May the The ONE who blessed you guys with this level of sharing continue to shower you all with more and more and more.

[reinrag]

Epic is the best gaming company in the whole word : )

[gardian06]

post #97 (by dsanjit), and post #98 (by Crusha K. Rool)
especially Q1 of dsanjit's question. does the $99 license to sell the title count independently per title, or is it for all title(s) sold by that developer. then what about if we want to sell separately something similar to an expansion (though I am not sure if it is possible currently to have a game made in the UDK installed on a system look for a specific file folder, and reference the exposed entry points to the executable inside it, or if everything would have to be basically duplicated from the "original", and a player would have basically 2 copies of the same game one just has extras, if they decided to purchase both).
as an additional question does selling something like an expansion count as selling a separate game under the aforementioned question, or since it would be based on a game developed under the one license would it be considered part of the same license, and therefore be considered revenue from the same game.

[ffejnosliw]

The license is per-company or developer and covers all games made. It's all under a single license and cumulative.

[gardian06]

Edit notes: misread portion.

[Crusha K. Rool]

The license is per-company or developer and covers all games made. It's all under a single license and cumulative.

Ok, so ye overruled me there.


But what would be in the following case:

Say I buy a license to release a small game completely on my own and I hit the $50k threshold.
Later I start working on royalty base for another team who bought a license themselves. Would that effect me and my license in any way? After all it's earnings from the use of the UDK, but their project and license might not have hit the $50k yet while my did already, so would I have to give Epic their 25% share of what this studio pays me individually?

[Omar007]

From what I got, what you earn under your licence is what you have to pay to Epic.
Anything earned through another licence is for the owner of that licence to manage. Anything you get from them is yours.

[kapstok]

Kinda noob question, but what does a retail sale mean?

[c9rmt]

It’s truly a fantastic and helpful piece of information. I’m pleased which you just shared this valuable information with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.

[MarkG85]

That's awesomesauce

[NightVenom]

I have Question will Epic promo the game for if you send it in or is all up the development company to do that ...?

[NightVenom]

I have question will epic promo the game for you or does the development company for the have to do that ...?

[Mougli]

They might mention on their website it if it's good, but that's it. You have to do the bulk of the marketing work yourself.

[eandlau]

Hi Mark and thank you for your kind post.
I would like to ask one or two other questions.

Scenario is I created an imaginary world and already have a website up for it where I exhibit works like comic books, films and short stories set in this world and they are all digital downloads via Google Wallet and coming off my own FTP server.
I currently have a 2D map of the world one can look at on the site.
I would like to use UDK to publish an interactive FREE walk through in this world so that visitors can get a really good feel for the place.

I would like to know the following:
1. If this walk through is free / free downloadable .exe file but the products on the site are not free and meant to make money, would I still need to pay Epic anything from the sales of these other products?
2. Will Epic have the right to use any concepts / artwork / etc. or any parts of, what I have on this site for advertising purposes or share any of it with other parties involved? (What Google does when you set up a free website with them).

Thank you!