Unreal Engine 4 Source Code Released for Free

If you hadn't heard, just the other day Epic Games decided to release the Unreal Engine 4 and all of its source code for free, yes, you heard that right, it is now basically "open source" and free for any aspiring Game Developer or small Game Studio to pick up and forge their ideas for the next awesome game with.

Epic Games states that the engine can be used for anything from development, education,a rchitecture, VR, film and more. The small catch if there even is one to this awesome announcement would be that the Game Developer would pay a small 5% royalty once sales of said game has hit $3,000 per quarter.

Their motto? "Epic succeeds only when creators succeed."

Not bad I shall say. Further, Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney had this to say on the Unreal Engine blog;

In early 2014, we took the step of making Unreal Engine 4 available to everyone by subscription for $19 per month. We put all of our source code online, available to all who signed up. We flipped the switch and crossed our fingers.

The past year has been a whirlwind for everyone at Epic Games. Our community has grown massively. The quality and variety of creative work being done has been breathtaking. When we asked people to submit their projects to be shown this year at GDC, we had the challenge of picking just eight from over 100 finalists that were all good enough to show.

The state of Unreal is strong, and weve realized that as we take away barriers, more people are able to fulfill their creative visions and shape the future of the medium we love. Thats why were taking away the last barrier to entry, and going free.

In Epics 25 years as an independent company, we have seen no time of greater opportunity for developers than today. Whatever your development aspirations, Epic stands with you, both as a technology provider, and as a fellow game developer counting on UE4 to power our own games.

Or if you're into watching video announcements, check it out below;