Unreal Engine 4 and UDK License

[Deathbreakfast]

I am going to be purchasing a Game Developer License in the coming months and just had a few questions regarding the release of Unreal Engine 4.

If I purchase the license before Unreal Engine 4 is released, upon its release, will I have access to the new engine?

Also, will Unreal Engine 4 be available to developers before its publicly available?

[Zeqzy]

Yes udk is free to use and you will have already payed to publish your game so you can port it to ue4
Udk using ue4 will be avalible when it is ready for use
If you are talking about a ue3 licence Then you may get ue4 now or when it is finished http://www.unrealengine.com/en/licensing/

[Henrik]

Zeqzy: Um, no.

Just... no.

[Mordynak]

Zeqzy, i think you completely misunderstood what was asked.

As of this moment there has been no word of a Unreal Engine 4 free version, the same as we have UDK.
And i seriously doubt that buying a license for UE3 will give you access to EU4. I doubt it, but i may be wrong.

@ Deathbreakfast, you are aware that UDK is free to use right? And you are aware of why you would purchase a full license?

[reinrag]

Indeed Mordynak, it hasn't been confirmed that UE4 will ship under the same terms and conditions than UDK yet, and again having a full UE3 license shouldn't grant you a UE4 license.

[XilenceX]

Zeqzy, i think you completely misunderstood what was asked.

As of this moment there has been no word of a Unreal Engine 4 free version, the same as we have UDK.
And i seriously doubt that buying a license for UE3 will give you access to EU4. I doubt it, but i may be wrong.

@ Deathbreakfast, you are aware that UDK is free to use right? And you are aware of why you would purchase a full license?

Epic Games confirmed that there will be an UDK based on UE4. You can find some interviews with Mark Rein to second that. However in the last interview I read it still wasn't clear whether the UDK version would be available together with the UE4 launch or at a later date. Having said that they wrote that they want to decrease the gap between UE4 release and UDK release for it. Last thing I read was that Epic are preparing UE4 Dev Kits to send out to selected UE3 licensees but I am positive that just buying a UE3 license would NOT give you acess to those. xDD Representing a big developer studio might increase your chances though. ^^
Well you buy a license to use UDK/UE3 for commercial use obviously. doh

[Deathbreakfast]

Yes Mrodynak, I am currently using UDK, I will be publishing my finished product when it is done. I am planning to start a kickstarter to raise money next year, in which I will be required to have a license for any kind of funding.
I just wanted to see what people on the forums had to say before I emailed Epic Games.

[JessieG]

Zeqzy, i think you completely misunderstood what was asked.

As of this moment there has been no word of a Unreal Engine 4 free version, the same as we have UDK.
And i seriously doubt that buying a license for UE3 will give you access to EU4. I doubt it, but i may be wrong.

@ Deathbreakfast, you are aware that UDK is free to use right? And you are aware of why you would purchase a full license?

Talking with a former Day 1 Studios employee informed me that when companies license an engine, they basically license a snapshot of the engine in it's current form. So if someone licences UE3 (not UDK, but the full engine) they get it in its current state and nothing more afterwards, which means no future updates to UE3 and definitely not UE4. That's if the terms are similar for Epic as with other companies.

[darthviper107]

For Epic I would guess that getting engine updates and support are additional things that would increase the license cost but are probably an option.

[jpvg]

Epic Games confirmed that there will be an UDK based on UE4. You can find some interviews with Mark Rein to second that. However in the last interview I read it still wasn't clear whether the UDK version would be available together with the UE4 launch or at a later date. Having said that they wrote that they want to decrease the gap between UE4 release and UDK release for it. Last thing I read was that Epic are preparing UE4 Dev Kits to send out to selected UE3 licensees but I am positive that just buying a UE3 license would NOT give you acess to those. xDD Representing a big developer studio might increase your chances though. ^^
Well you buy a license to use UDK/UE3 for commercial use obviously. doh

Oh please do find that interview because I've spend hours on finding it, the closest I can find is CliffyB saying that it might happend.

[ambershee]

I expect there are a number of studios presently evaluating UE4, but I would not expect a UE4 UDK to be available in the immediate future, nor necessarily to be available on the same terms as the present UDK.

[tegleg]

if someone licences UE3 (not UDK, but the full engine) they get it in its current state and nothing more afterwards, which means no future updates to UE3

thats not true, you have access to the epic server which hosts ue3 and is updated regularly allowing access to these updates.
however chosing to update could break something you already have so its not always wise.
but you are limited to the platforms that your licence covers, for example android, xbox and such.

it definately does not and will not give access to ue4 though unless you get that licence too.

[XilenceX]

I expect there are a number of studios presently evaluating UE4, but I would not expect a UE4 UDK to be available in the immediate future, nor necessarily to be available on the same terms as the present UDK.

Yeah that's a bit of a tricky situation. The terms for the new UDK could indeed be quite different. All that was promised was something along the lines of UDK for UE4. However I am positive that the new terms will be quite similar as they seem to be working well for Epic Games. I would imagine that the royalty threshold goes back down to 5k $ again though as it was the case with the current UDK for quite some time. The worst thing that could happen would be that they do it like Crytek. Where you get a free version of the Engine to make free stuff with it and promote it. However if you want to earn any money you still have to get the expensive full Engine license. That would be awefull but I have faith that Epic are able to see the benefits of true Indie license terms.