Game Engine Licensing: Unity, Unreal and Godot Costs

Q: How much does Unity cost for a small studio in 2026?

Unity Personal is free for customers with up to $200,000 in revenue and funding over the prior 12 months, according to Unity's pricing and plan pages. Above that you need Unity Pro, listed at $2,310 per seat per year prepaid or $210 per seat per month. Funding counts toward the limit, and console publishing is listed under Pro, so a console plan means Pro seats whatever your revenue.

Q: How does the Unreal Engine royalty work?

Epic's licensing page says all lifetime gross revenue above $1 million that is directly attributable to a product is subject to a 5% royalty, regardless of who collects it. The threshold is per product, not per company. Royalties are reported quarterly and due 45 days after the quarter closes, and a product that earns under $10,000 in a quarter owes nothing for that quarter.

Q: Is the Unreal royalty calculated on gross or net revenue?

It is calculated on gross revenue. Epic's FAQ says you owe 5% of worldwide gross revenue above the first $1 million, regardless of what company collects it. If a store keeps 30% of a $10 sale, you receive $7 but the royalty is still worked out on the full $10, so 50 cents goes to Epic. That is roughly 7% of the money that reaches you.

Q: What is the Launch Everywhere with Epic programme?

It is an Epic programme that started on 1 January 2025. If you release your game on the Epic Games Store before or at the same time as other stores on the corresponding platforms, the Unreal Engine royalty rate drops from 5% to 3.5% across the platforms where the game is sold. Revenue from the Epic Games Store itself is already excluded from royalty calculations.

Q: Is Godot completely free to use commercially?

Yes. Godot is released under the MIT licence, so there are no seat fees, royalties or revenue thresholds, and you can sell games made with it. The one obligation is to include Godot's copyright notice and licence statement in your game's documentation or credits. Third-party libraries bundled with the engine have their own notices, listed in the project's COPYRIGHT.txt file.

Q: How much does it cost to ship a Godot game on consoles?

The Godot Foundation does not maintain official console ports, so you pay a third party. W4 Games publishes its prices: for teams up to 30 people with revenue under $300,000, $800 per platform per year or $2,000 for all platforms, and $4,000 per platform or $10,000 for all platforms above that revenue. There is no revenue share, but access ends if the subscription lapses.

Q: Which engine is cheapest if my game becomes a hit?

It depends on team size and revenue, so run the numbers. A three-person team pays Unity $6,930 a year for Pro seats. Unreal's 5% royalty on lifetime gross above $1 million passes that figure once the game earns about $1,138,600. At $3 million lifetime gross the Unreal royalty is $100,000, or $70,000 at the 3.5% rate. Godot stays at zero apart from optional console costs.

Q: Do I need to track licences for assets as well as the engine?

Yes, and it causes more problems than engine fees. Every sound, font, plugin and image has its own terms. CC0 needs no credit, CC BY needs attribution and CC BY-SA adds share-alike conditions. Keep one file in the repository that lists each third-party asset with its source and licence, and replace anything you cannot trace before you ship.

Satyam Kumar

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Game Engine Licensing and Royalties: What Unity, Unreal and Godot Really Cost (2026)

By Satyam KumarNovember 14, 202612 min read

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Game Engine Licensing and Royalties: What Unity, Unreal and Godot Really Cost (2026)

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Satyam Kumar

Founder & AI Architect, AppScale LLP

AI & Cloud Architect. Helping teams build systems that scale to millions.

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Game Engine Licensing and Royalties: What Unity, Unreal and Godot Really Cost (2026)

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