Epic has raised the amount of money that can be earned by a developer before paying royalties when using its Unreal Development Kit. Epic vice president Mark Reign made the announcement in the Epic forums, saying the new threshold is $50,000, ten times the previous rate. That means smaller developers won't have to pay Epic royalties on their games until they cross $50,000 in sales.

"We're really excited about folks making some amazing things with UDK and we realize that a lot of you are just getting started in the business so not having to pay royalties on your first $50,000 should help you get a financial footing toward building a quality game development business," said Rein.

Rein also clarified that UDK royalties are on wholesale amount, which is the money received by the developer after the retailer takes their cut. The Unreal Development Kit launched over a year ago, in an effort to supply professional tools for noncommercial and educational use.