Valve’s Source 2 engine will be free for developers to use, which seems to be the way a lot of graphics engines are headed these days, but there is one caveat users will need to bear in mind.
Anyone who uses the engine must sell their game on the Steam store, ensuring that Valve does at least get a cut of the revenue for each digital copy sold.
[url=http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/03/04/source-2-is-actually-free-like-for-free/
]RPS met with[/url] Valve’s Erik Johnson at GDC, and he confirmed the requirement. In all honesty most developers will aim to release their product on Steam anyway, and Valve isn’t requiring that Source 2 games remain exclusive to the platform – as long as it’s available through Steam, developers can sell their game through other sites and services freely.
It’s a deal that seems to work out for everyone; Valve skims off 30% of the revenue of anything that gets sold on Steam, so they’ll pick up a nice paycheque that offsets the lack of Source 2 fee, while developers get a huge platform to reach an audience and can make use of Steam’s various handy features.
