Unreal Engine (UE4) is a complete suite of creation tools for game development, architectural and automotive visualization, linear film and television content creation, broadcast and live event production, training and simulation, and other real-time applications.
We offer a choice of licensing terms depending on your use of Unreal Engine.
Get Unreal Engine here, and access all engine features, the full suite of integrated tools, and the C++ source code for the entire engine. You’ll find documentation, tutorials, and support resources, plus tons of free content, including templates, samples, and complete projects to quickly get you on your way to building anything you want!
Epic regularly releases new versions which include updates, improved features, community contributions, and bug fixes. We also share live changes to source code through GitHub.
You can access C++ source code via GitHub here.
The Unreal Engine End User License Agreement for Publishing is a legal document that you’re agreeing to when you choose one of two standard ways to sign up for Unreal Engine. It governs your use of Unreal Engine, and also describes your rights and obligations when you build games or other interactive off-the-shelf products using the engine.
This license is free to use; a 5% royalty is due only when you monetize your game or other interactive off-the-shelf product and your gross revenues from that product exceed $1,000,000 USD. The 5% royalty is calculated on the amount over and above the first $1M in gross revenue. You can find out more about royalties in the Releasing products section of this FAQ.
Download the EULA as a PDF here.
The official version of the EULA is in English only, but we currently have a Japanese language EULA, a Korean language EULA, and a Chinese language EULA available for reference purposes.
(エンドユーザーライセンス契約書の正式な原本は英語版となりますが、参考として日本語参考訳EULA、韓国語参考訳EULA、中国語参考訳EULA、をご用意しております。)
EULA 공식 버전은 영어만 인정되나, 현재 참고용으로 일본어 EULA, 한국어 EULA, 중국어 EULA가 제공되고 있습니다.
The Unreal Engine End User License Agreement for Creators is a legal document that you’re agreeing to when you choose one of two standard ways to sign up for the Unreal Engine. It governs your use of the Unreal Engine, and also describes your rights and obligations when you create projects using the engine. This license is free to use and 100% royalty-free; you can use it to create internal or free projects, or to develop linear content or custom projects for clients, but not for publishing off-the-shelf offerings.
Download the EULA as a PDF here.
The official version of the EULA is in English only, but we currently have a Japanese language EULA, a Korean language EULA, and a Chinese language EULA available for reference purposes.
(エンドユーザーライセンス契約書の正式な原本は英語版となりますが、参考として日本語参考訳EULA、韓国語参考訳EULA、中国語参考訳EULA、をご用意しております。)
EULA 공식 버전은 영어만 인정되나, 현재 참고용으로 일본어 EULA, 한국어 EULA, 중국어 EULA가 제공되고 있습니다.
View the Support page for the most comprehensive information regarding how you can get help and information for development with the Unreal Engine.
If you're a custom licensee (meaning you have an Unreal Engine license agreement with Epic other than the free EULA), you should ask your questions at the Unreal Developer Network (login required).
Unreal Engine enables you to deploy projects to Windows PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia, MacOS, iOS, Android, AR, VR, Linux, SteamOS, and HTML5. You can run the Unreal Editor on Windows, MacOS, and Linux.
PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Google Stadia console tools and code are available at no additional cost to developers who are registered developers for their respective platform(s).
Epic welcomes your feedback and code or other content submissions. If you send code and/or content to us, you need to have all the necessary rights to send it to us. However you send it, we will own it, and can (but don't have to) use it in the engine. Regardless of whether we use it, you can still use it (as long as it is in a way allowed by the EULA).
At any given time you are welcome to see our development roadmap and vote on the features you’re most interested in seeing next!
Epic Games has committed $100,000,000 to provide financial grants to creative, noteworthy, and innovative projects built in and around Unreal Engine or projects that enhance the open-source 3D graphics ecosystem.
Grants range from $5,000 to $500,000, and cover a variety of endeavors from game development, architecture projects, and film production to academic uses and software tool development. No matter what size grant you receive, you will continue to own your IP and will be free to publish however you wish.
We’re looking to support anyone doing amazing things with Unreal Engine or for the 3D graphics ecosystem. To ensure that Epic MegaGrants delivers the most value to the community, here are a few considerations:
If you don’t know which of these categories your project falls into, please apply. The more details you can provide about your project, the easier it is for us to evaluate it.
You can release any product that is allowed by law. You can release games, demos, VR projects, architectural showcases, trailers, films, and more.
The only parts of the Unreal Engine you can’t release to the general public are the source code and tools or modifications to them; these components may only be distributed to other licensees with access to the same version of the Unreal Engine.
Read the Unreal Engine EULA for Publishing and the Unreal Engine EULA for Creators for full details.
Under the terms of the Unreal Engine EULA for Publishing, you are generally obligated to pay to Epic 5% of gross revenue on your product after it generates $1,000,000 USD in gross revenue, regardless of what company collects the revenue. The 5% royalty is calculated on the amount over and above the first $1M in gross revenue.
Royalty payments are due 45 days after the close of each calendar quarter. Along with the payment, you must send a royalty report on a per-product basis. For more information, see our Release page.
Our aim is to provide powerful tools, a scalable and productive workflow, advanced features, and millions of lines of C++ source code that enable developers to achieve more than they would otherwise be able to, so that this structure works to everyone’s benefit.
In this business model, Epic succeeds only when developers succeed using Unreal Engine. Many of the industry’s leading developers and publishers have signed up to license Unreal Engine with royalty-based terms over the years, and now this level of access is open to everyone. And, don't forget, we continue to offer custom terms.
Yes, and we have designed the Unreal Editor and launcher to accommodate this. We aim to build a unified development and modding community. Here is how this works: You’re free to release your game through any distribution channels of your choosing, however the Unreal Editor (including modified versions) and code may only be distributed through official Epic channels (e.g. the UE4 launcher for binaries, and GitHub for source), to users who have accepted the EULA.
You’re free to release Unreal Engine products through a publisher or distributor, and the EULA gives you the right to sublicense the necessary parts of Unreal Engine to them so they can release your product.
When negotiating terms with publishers, please keep in mind that the royalty remains 5% of the product's gross revenue after generating $1,000,000 USD. In this scenario, feel free to refer your publisher to Epic during discussions, as it may be advantageous to all if the publisher obtains a custom-negotiated, multi-product Unreal Engine license covering your product.
Royalties are due on revenue from Kickstarter or other crowdfunding sources when the revenue is actually attributable to your product. For example, if the user is required to purchase a particular funding package to obtain access (now or later) to your product, or if that package gives the buyer benefits within the product such as in-game items or virtual currency.
Here’s an example of what we mean by “attributable”: Assume you provide two tiers of offers, a signed poster for $20, and a signed poster plus game access for $50. No royalties are due on ancillary products like posters, so no royalty is due on the $20 tier. On the $50 tier, the user is paying for the poster with a $20 value, and that implies that the remaining $30 of value is attributable to the product. So, for each $50 tier sale, you’d pay a royalty of $1.50 (5% of $30).
Yes! The following revenue sources are royalty-free:
You can extend it, modify it, fork it, or integrate it with other software or libraries, with one exception: You can’t combine the Unreal Engine code with code covered by a “Copyleft” license agreement which would directly or indirectly require the Unreal Engine to be governed by terms other than the EULA.
First of all, you can redistribute your game, and mods for your game, to anyone and through any channels you desire. These redistribution rights are covered in the Unreal Engine EULA for Publishing section 1a.
Second, you can freely redistribute your customized version of the Unreal Editor, and (if you choose) UE4 source code to the Unreal Engine community through Epic's Unreal Engine channels including GitHub and the Marketplace. These redistribution rights are covered in Unreal Engine EULA for Publishing section 1b.
You're free to redistribute all of Epic's UE4 source, and your modifications and extensions to it, to the Unreal Engine community, through a fork of Epic's UE4 GitHub repository. Of course, you're also free to not redistribute any source, if that's what you prefer.
Generally, source code is of interest to a smaller and more hardcore developer community than the Unreal Editor and its user-friendly interface for Blueprint visual scripting and other systems. We recommend starting with a release of mod tools, and considering source later as your community gains momentum.
Yes, mod developers are free to purchase Unreal Engine Marketplace content for use in their mods, and to redistribute that content to the general public as part of their playable mods (in the form of object code and cooked content).
However, mod developers may only share commercial Marketplace content in source code or uncooked form within their mod development team. You must not release content in this format to the community at large, as the Marketplace developers who created it rely on selling it as a source of income.
The support community dedicated to Unreal Studio has concluded along with the beta program. Support for these features is now folded into the existing channels for Unreal Engine. Community support is available through AnswerHub and our forums, and custom licensee support is available on the Unreal Developer Network.
Former Unreal Studio beta members who have had an entitlement to use certain Allegorithmic Substances as part of the beta program will retain that entitlement, however no new entitlements will be offered.