Editor’s note: Epic Games is partnering with academia to spread the reach of its latest game engine technology, Unreal Engine 4. Unreal is already one of the world’s most popular game creation technologies, used by companies worldwide and across multiple platforms. WRAL TechWire Insider John Gauidosi reports in an exclusive interview with Unreal’s general manager.
CARY, N.C. – In March, Epic Games switched the business model for its Unreal Engine 4 video game engine technology to a subscription-based model of $19 per month (plus a 5% royalty on any revenue-generating products). Now the Cary, N.C.-headquartered game studio is offering its technology for free to educators and students.
Unreal Engine General Manager Ray Davis said that since Epic announced the new business model, many educators have been working with the company to get Unreal Engine 4 into their classrooms. Additionally, over the last few months students in the Epic Games community have been asking for a way to gain access to the tools without having to pay anything upfront. The steady increase in interest made Epic realize they need a much simpler way to partner with academia.
“We’ve decided to go with the simplest solution of all – Unreal Engine 4 is now free for schools and their students,” said Davis. “All educators can now have unrestricted access to the engine simply by contacting us at unrealengine.com/education. Schools can integrate the same fully featured version of Unreal Engine 4 previously available only to developers, along with all future updates. Students will retain indefinite access to any versions of the engine they used during their coursework so they’ll always have the option to take their class projects and turn them into shipping projects any time in the future.”
Game development continues to increase in complexity and as a newcomer to the process it can be quite challenging to learn the skills that will lead to a successful career. Davis believes Unreal Engine 4 can be a valuable learning tool for all types of aspirational developers, and now schools can freely integrate it into their courses to provide a modern toolset to help teach students the necessary skills.
“If you’re a programmer, what better way to learn C++ than with the entire Unreal Engine 4 source code at your disposal? For budding artists and game designers, Blueprint visual scripting makes it possible to build and ship entire projects without ever writing a single line of code,” said Davis. “Learning the fundamentals (and advanced techniques) of game development with the same tools used by professional developers to ship successful games is one of the best ways to maximize your chances of starting your own development career. To help accelerate this we provide numerous free content samples, tons of video and written tutorials to explain all the major tools of Unreal Engine 4, and extensive documentation of all features.”
The engine can be installed and used on all school-owned computers, and personal copies can be provided free of charge to all students enrolled in accredited video game development, computer science, art, architecture, simulation, and visualization programs. In addition, schools and their students will receive regular updates as if subscribed, but without having to pay the $19 monthly fee. Launch of commercial products is still subject to the 5% royalty.
This new initiative sets up the academic community to take advantage of everything game engine technology has to offer and be a part of game development in its purest form. Students can build incredible portfolios, make projects of any size and advance their careers using Unreal Engine technology features like Blueprint. Unreal Engine 4 is the most accessible, beginner-friendly version of the engine ever created. Thousands of students have built careers and companies around Unreal Engine experience for more than 15 years.
“We’re constantly evolving our learning resources and we’re excited to collaborate further with education professionals to build curriculum that gives students the best chances of achieving their development goals and land great jobs,” said Davis.
Microsoft, Oculus VR, Sony, NetherRealm Studios, Capcom, Yager, FX houses, architectural firms and government organizations all use Unreal Engine technology. In addition, Epic collaborates with NVIDIA, Google, Amazon and Facebook and other leading organizations on research and development for emerging platforms. Apple’s new iPhone 6 announcement included Epic Games utilizing the new Metal API for future mobile games on the mobile OS.
[EPIC ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of Epic Games stories as reported in WRAL TechWire.]
