In my opinion all the major engines going free has something to do with the rise of indy development teams. Developers can't make excuses about how their engine is holding them back ( SWTOR anyone?). More games, less development time, win win I'd say.
Its a double edged sword. When it used to cost big bucks to get a hold of a decent engine you were at least assured the game would be relatively well built in the end as the development would of needed decent backing just to license the engine. Meaning they would of had money to also higher decent programmers artists etc.
Now we're just seeing an avalanche of terrible games being made because any amateur can take a stab at game development on a free engine and toss it up on Steam in the Early Access section.
So much noise to sift through these days to find something playable.
All the engines are free with a hitch. Unreal is free until you start making money. Lumberyard is free but you need to use AWS and that is freaking expensive.
Is Cry free like that or more like Unity? I saw mention of the marketplace.
It's free free, the marketplace is where you can go to sell or buy assets.
CRYENGINE
What's Included?
The latest version of CRYENGINE with all its features
Full Engine Source Code
Full commercialization for any games created
100% royalty-free
Access to all supported platforms
Primed for VR development
Buy and sell assets on the Marketplace (no sub = you get 70% of sale price)
Comments
For the most part, I wish these people who are peddling their engine (or other middleware) would get back to making good games instead.
Its a double edged sword. When it used to cost big bucks to get a hold of a decent engine you were at least assured the game would be relatively well built in the end as the development would of needed decent backing just to license the engine. Meaning they would of had money to also higher decent programmers artists etc.
Now we're just seeing an avalanche of terrible games being made because any amateur can take a stab at game development on a free engine and toss it up on Steam in the Early Access section.
So much noise to sift through these days to find something playable.
CRYENGINE
What's Included?
They offer "subs" for other services..see here https://www.cryengine.com/get-cryengine/service-packages
I do believe cryengine has a bigger learning curve and it has affected them so I think they are maybe trying to sweeten the pot so to speak.
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.