GameMaker drops licence fee for its next-generation runtime from 2027

GameMaker will let developers sell commercial games made with its new GMRT runtime without buying a Professional licence from January 2027, as it competes with Unity, Unreal and Godot.

AI-drafted from 4 sources. This story was written with AI from the outside reporting listed under Sources, and checked by automated tools before it went up. The originals have the full detail.

GameMaker is scrapping the licence fee for commercial use of its next-generation runtime, GMRT, from January 1st 2027. From that date, developers will be able to build and sell games made with GMRT across desktop, mobile, web and GX Games without buying a Professional licence, according to the announcement reported by PocketGamer.biz.

GMRT is the runtime GameMaker has been rolling out in beta to eventually replace its existing GMS2 runtime. A runtime is the part of an engine that actually executes a finished game, as opposed to the editor you build it in. Until now, anyone wanting to ship a commercial game made with it needed a paid Professional licence. From 2027 that requirement disappears for non-console platforms.

What changes, and what doesn't

The new model also gives every licence tier access to GMRT's source code, not just the ability to use the runtime for free. That builds on a decision earlier this year to open up the source in the first place, as GamingOnLinux reports. Developers will reportedly be able to look at how the engine works, adapt it, and potentially contribute back.

Existing Professional licence holders are not left worse off. GameMaker says they will keep the right to commercially distribute games made on the older GMS2 runtime, and will now also get access to the GMS2 source code. GamesIndustry.biz quotes the announcement stressing that “regardless of runtime, developers will still need an enterprise license and to be an approved developer to be able to export to consoles.” Pricing for the Enterprise tier and other paid tiers is not changing.

Russell Kay, head of GameMaker, frames it as a continuation of existing company policy rather than a one-off gesture: “From the very beginning, GameMaker has been committed to making game development more accessible and flexible for every creator out there,” he said, according to all four reports. “As GMRT continues to roll out in beta across platforms, we are widening the scope of what we provide to developers.”

Why this is happening now

GamingOnLinux's report places the move in a crowded field. Unity and Unreal already let developers release commercial games for free up to a revenue threshold, after which royalties or seat fees kick in. Godot, meanwhile, is fully open source with no royalties at all. Against that backdrop, a flat Professional licence fee for a 2D-focused engine looked increasingly like an outlier, and GMRT's free commercial terms close that gap rather than undercut it.

GameMaker's existing user base gives the change some weight: the tool has been downloaded more than 12 million times and has been used to make Spelunky, Deltarune and UFO 50, among other commercially successful indie games. The engine is owned by Opera, which acquired it in January 2021, and GameMaker's team works out of Dundee, Scotland.

What's still unclear

None of the reports spell out what happens to developers who already paid for a Professional licence specifically to use GMRT before the free terms land, nor whether refunds or credits are on offer. It is also not stated how GMRT's beta status interacts with the January 2027 date: the engine is still rolling out across platforms, and none of the sources confirm when it will be considered complete rather than beta. Console export terms remain the clearest unchanged piece of the puzzle: an Enterprise licence and approved developer status, on either runtime, stay mandatory.

Sources

Image: PocketGamer.biz

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