I have been building my own cross-platform online game in Unreal Engine since 2016.
I've spent around 2,000 hours on it so far, with probably another 100 hours of work to go before I will feel comfortable showing it to my friends. (and even then, the game would still only be 5% complete toward my full vision of the game)
The game is FREE and works across PC, Mac and Linux (I also have a mobile prototype but it's nowhere ready for show). It also looks awesome in Unreal Engine 4, and is much more powerful and stable under the hood than the Unity 3D version that I had previously prototyped through 2011~2014.
I had made this wallpaper in 2011 for the Unity3D version. In hindsight, it is cute that I thought I could finish by 2012. I also had a different name for the game back then.
But, most importantly, I actually think people will have fun with it. If you can't tell already, I'm really excited to tell you more, but I will save the proper introduction for another date after I've put in that last 100 hours of work. (Hopefully before the PS5 is released?!)
I'm a Free-Riding Epic Customer
The reason that I decided to write my first blog in a year is because I realized that even though I have spent 2,000+ hours working on this game, and even if I am somehow able to find the other 40,000-ish man-hours to get this game to a "commercial-grade" product, the amount of work I put into this would still only account for around 1-2% of the total work that will have been done toward the creation of my game. Why? Because I am using a game engine that Epic Games has already invested MILLIONS of man-hours developing (I'd guess around 2 to 4 million man-hours over the last two decades).
Yet, when my game is ready, and my friends/family and we start playing this game together, how much will I or we as a group have to pay to Epic Games? NOTHING, especially since I have no plans to make money from this game in its current state. And even if I happened to make millions off of this game later on, Epic Games' cut would still "only" be 5%.
Leaving Money on the Table Actually, since my game actually only uses about 10% of UE4's full set of features, I suppose I am technically only using 200,000-400,000 hours of Epic's work for my game. Either way, this is what the numbers look like:
Comparing the hours of "work done" makes clear the case that developers like me are getting a good deal
Let's take a pause and look at this picture. Under the third scenario, even though close to 90% of the development work would be done by Epic, their cut would still only be 5%
To be clear, I am not advocating for a 90% revenue share for Epic, and the above is not how you set pricing for your software either (^^;). But, to be perfectly honest, for a small-time developer (e.g. less than 5 people on the team), a 30% cut of revenues for the engine would not be unreasonable. There's even an argument for a 50% cut for Epic in cases like mine (i.e. one-man developer)! I believe it is important to note that Epic Games did not take that route. Their ask is 5%, regardless of the developer or project size.
Against the backdrop of Epic Games' battle against Apple and Google's 30% revenue shares, this is an important and relevant perspective to keep in mind; that Epic tends to "leave money on the table", which is in stark contrast to the stance supposedly being taken by Apple's executives regarding the App Store's revenue share.
An excerpt from a New York Time article from 8/14. Apple's execs' general attitude of "let's charge more as long as we can get away with it" mentality is unfortunately the norm in the world of business.
Or to say all this another way, Epic Games, as a corporation that has to prioritize maximizing their profits, also puts money where its mouth is and at least tries to provide enough value to their customers to justify their % cut.
With Great Power came Great Changes Also important to keep in mind: what Epic has done so far with the massive amount of wealth AND leverage they earned through Fortnite has been nothing short of groundbreaking for our industry. To list the most notables:
1. Making Unreal Engine 4 available for free & lowering the royalty share to 5%
2. Making Cross-Platform gaming for console a reality
3. Establishing the Epic Games Store (EGS), the first real alternative for PC digital distribution since Steam
4. Buying Out titles for curated & exclusive launch on EGS (including many smaller titles that were neglected on Steam)
5. Challenging the 30% platform royalty (in progress)
Some say Epic Games is no less greedy than the tech giants it is suing, and I do see that all of the above as self-serving long-term plays as well. Epic Games appears to be jockeying to become an even bigger player in the future, eventually rivaling platform holders such as Sony, Google and Apple. Regardless of their intent, however, their actions over the years have spoke loudly and clearly enough for me. IMO, these changes have all pushed (or will push) the industry in the right direction, and all of these changes will make the industry better for consumers AND developers ("the small guys"). ... If that also financially benefits Epic Games in the process, so what?
No Saints, but still Commendable Of course Epic didn't come up with all these "right decisions" entirely on their own. In fact, in many cases, I suspect they may not even have had a choice:
1. Making access to UE4 free was likely intended to stop Unity3D's then-unstoppable momentum (which was free first)
2. Fortnite's Battle Royale mode was a hail-mary copycat of PUBG to save the then-failing title
3. Fortnite was the direct and primary beneficiary of it going cross-platform. Not only in terms of increased revenue from Fortnite itself, but also in that Epic can now also monetize that know-how through Unreal Engine.
4. Owning your own distribution channel/storefront is any publisher's pipe dream
5. Buying out titles for EGS was a necessary investment to secure content & force user migration from Steam That said, where they could have made even more self-serving decisions, better ones seemed to have prevailed. And it is because of this consistent show of restraint that I am willing to give Epic Games at least some benefit of the doubt when they say they are battling Apple and Google for the developers/creators and not themselves. The point here & the part I am commending is that at least Epic Games is not ENTIRELY about themselves, and are spending at least some their monies and power in "generous" ways that other big players in this industry unfortunately do not. So, thank you Epic Games for letting me use your Game Engine practically for free, and for your crusade against the big boys. The least I can do is give you my moral support and wish you good luck as you go to war with the two tech giants in my neighborhood. Perhaps you could also teach them how to be a little less greedy while you're at it? 😉
p.s. At the risk of turning this political, I do also want to point out that this whole story of how Epic Games is spending their Fortnite money is a very rare and welcome case of Trickle-Down Economics actually working. Too bad this is the exception and not the rule...
p.p.s. Developers like me supporting them in this battle against Apple/Google may have been part of Epic's calculation all along. But, again, so what? I'd argue that, the amount of money Epic has "saved" developers by making UE4 cheaper alone justifies people like me testifying on their behalf. It's owed, even. ;)