Following the controversy of  Unity’s runtime fee, some game engines are taking steps to make their software more accessible to the gaming community.

The popular game engine GameMaker is now free for non-commercial use. In its Tuesday blog post, GameMaker head Russell Kay explained that the change was a thank you towards it’s user-base after a “three-fold increase in active users” since joining Opera, the company behind the Opera GX browser.

🗣️ TELL EM’ @itsmatharoo pic.twitter.com/GwHc1JesV0

— GameMaker (@GameMakerEngine) November 21, 2023

“We have a special gift for our community this Thanksgiving. From now on, GameMaker will be free for non-commercial purposes on all non-console platforms,” Kay said. “At the same time, to meet the needs of hobbyist and indie developers, we are introducing a new one-time fee – a commercial licence that is replacing the current Creator/Indie subscriptions. Nothing changes for developers targeting the consoles, our Enterprise subscription remains the same.

Additionally, GameMaker alluded to the recent Unity controversy as another reason for the change.

“…We have seen other platforms making awkward moves with their pricing and terms, so we thought, what if we did the opposite, something that could actually be good for developers?” wrote Kay. “Our success is measured by the number of people making games!”

With these new changes explained that users will now be able to download and export GameMaker games on PC, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS, granted that the games are free to use.

Developers that choose to sell their game on will have to pay a single Commercial Licence for $99 instead of a monthly subscription. That said, if developers want console sales, then they’d need pay the $79.99 monthly subscription fee.

Unsurprisingly, this move has been praised by the gaming community. Allowing a useful tool like GameMaker to be free to use will make it easier for developers of all skill levels to try out.

And seeing how well this change has been taken by the gaming community, it will be interesting to see if other game engines will follow in GameMaker’s footsteps.

For more information on the recent changes at GameMaker, check out their official FAQ.