‘No strings attached’
To foster a healthy ecosystem for its gaming framework, Epic needs a stable of developers that are comfortable, well-versed, and dedicated to creating games around Unreal Engine 4. A fair share of large studios build their games in Unreal, but smaller companies tend to favor Unity.
Epic’s committing $5 million to hopefully turn that around. In hopes of introducing new creators to Unreal Engine 4, Epic’s offering grants of anywhere between $5,000 and $50,000 to help fund development.
The deal truly comes with no string attached, apart from the obvious caveat that the game be built in Unreal Engine 4. Epic’s not seeking any stake in the properties that receive grants, and developers are free to continue exploring additional methods of funding. Epic’s simply investing in its own platform.
In order to apply for a grant, interested parties should email [email protected], but they have to be a working prototype to be considered. While Epic’s intention is to fund videogames, it’ll also consider other projects such as animated features, architectural visualizations, marketplace content — the possibilities are endless, just as long as it makes the people at Epic say “whoa.” Anyone that does that might have a nice chunk of change coming their way soon.
Introducing Unreal dev grants [Unreal Engine via GamesBeat]
