Cost To Build Unreal Engine Game 2024 | Unreal Engine Game Development Cost

Unreal engine is one of the most approachable game development engines for developers. With it being an open source platform for developers to begin their creations, there’s no doubt that it’s the first choice for everyone.

However the inclination of businesses and developers towards Unreal Engine is not just because of it being a free tool. Rather, it’s the availability of features and tools that would otherwise be too expensive to access.

Unreal Engine 5 is the latest version with the best ever physics and animation systems and tools that let you create photoreal visuals and high fidelity digital humans in a matter of minutes.

This leaves businesses with one question - How much does Unreal Engine Game Development Cost?

Unreal Engine game development is more than a mere app download. It requires a tech team, powerful operating systems and more. Keeping every factor in mind, let’s break down the cost of developing a game using Unreal Engine 5.

How Much Does Unreal Engine Game Development Cost

The Unreal Engine Game Development Cost ranges from $20k and goes upwards of $80k. While the tool itself is free to download and use, the cost of development is based on other factors like manpower, game complexities, graphic requirements and more.

Let’s break down some elements of the unreal engine game development to understand the cost estimation better.

Breakdown of Unreal Engine 5 Development Cost

Game Script Creation	>$14/hour
3D Graphics Creation	$600-$2000+
Game Deployment	$10k-$15k
Project Management	$20-$25/ hour
QA and Testing	$16-$24/hour
Maintenance	$250-$500+/month

NOTE: The cost breakdown is a general estimation and does not include every step of the process. Consult our tech team for a better estimation of your project.

Factors Determining Unreal Engine 5 Game Development Cost

Unreal Engine is a free tool. It costs nothing to download the app and create a full-fledged game on the platform. Unreal Engine charges nothing after publishing the game too unless the game generates over 1 million in gross revenue. In that case, a royalty of 5% is charged by the platform moving forward. Besides the royalty, the development cost will also depend on certain factors if you decide to hire an Unreal Engine game development company.

Tech Team

Unreal Engine game development requires a selected team of tech professionals who take care of every aspect of the development process. Some of the tech professionals involved in the process are-

• Unreal engine game developers
• Game programmer
• Sound engineer
• 3D modeling designer
• QA team
• Testers
• Marketing Team
• Project managers

The more demanding a game is, the more team members will be required for the project. As a result, the cost will increase based on the price rate of the team or an individual.

Legal Documentation

Unreal Engine is generally used for internal projects. However, for a business looking forward to generating revenue, legal documentation is required which involves money. This could be filing for copyright, registration, attorney fees, etc.

Marketing Costs

The marketing costs for a game should be over 40% of the total project’s budget if you wish to meet the right audience. The total marketing and advertising costs will also depend on the agency you choose for the same.

Choice of Publishing Platform

Businesses can choose from multiple different digital distribution platforms which will determine the cost of deployment. Some of the popular digital distribution platforms are Steam, Epic Games Store, or GOG.

Location Wise of Unreal Engine Cost

USA	$50 to $100 per hour
Canada	$30 to $50 per hour
India	$20 to $49 per hour
UK	$53 to $100 per hour

Quality of Graphics

The higher the graphics quality, the higher will be the cost of development. If your game involves complex elements or scenes, the 3D artist’s rate will also increase since the job will be more taxing.

Duration of the Project

Most Unreal Engine developers charge on a per-hour basis. So for a game that’s complex or graphically rich, the duration of each member of the project will increase thereby also increasing the cost of Unreal Engine game development.

Are you looking for an Unreal Engine game development company that offers quality without high costs? Have a free consultation with Suffescom’s tech team today and build your Unreal Engine game.

Type Of Game

The type of game you develop changes the way the experts go forward with your project. For instance, an adventure game may require more graphics, complicated scenes and plot gameplay elements compared to a card game. Therefore, the duration and scope of work of a designer increases thereby increasing the costs.

Some of the most common genres of games built using Unreal Engine are-

Card Games: Cards Weaver, Memoryland Prelude and Clout Bout

Action Games: Shin Megami Tensei 5, Ark: Survival Evolved, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum

RPG Games: Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, Fortnite and Borderlands

Shooter Games: Unrecord, Lyra and Back 4 Blood

Adventure Games: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, HellBlade and Black Myth: Wukong

Educational Games: Spirit of Europe, Shape of Time and The Virtual UCF Arboretum

Why Should You Build a Game in Unreal Engine 5: Cost, Feature and Use Cases?

Unreal Engine 5 is the newest version of the most popular game development tool. While there are other advanced game development tools like Unity, Godot and GameMaker, Unreal Engine offers certain advantages that ease the process of game development.

New Generation Features

Unreal Engine 5 features significant advancements that make virtual production better and more advanced. For instance, unlike UR4, UR5 pushes the limit by handling about 10 million polygons easily. Let’s look at a few other features of Unreal Engine 5.

• Procedural Content Generation Framework: Allows you to create your own tools and procedural content in the Unreal Engine.
• Updated ML Deformer: Unreal Engine 5 is powered by machine learning technology that lets developers create game characters, generate body language, muscle deformations and more in real time.
• Nanite: Nanite is a virtualized micro polygon geometry system that allows developers to create more realistic gaming environments. Developers get the freedom to upload source art with millions or billions of polygons directly into the engine.
• Lumen: Lumen is a dynamic global illumination solution that detects and reacts automatically to the light changes in the scene which helps create realistic lighting and shadowing in the games.

Compatibility

Unreal Engine offers extensive compatibility across different systems and platforms such as

• Windows PC
• PlayStation 5
• PlayStation 4
• Xbox Series X,
• Xbox Series S,
• Xbox One,
• Nintendo Switch
• macOS
• iOS
• Android
• ARKit
• ARCore
• OpenXR
• SteamVR
• Oculus
• Linux
• SteamDeck

All games built on Unreal Engine have cross platform compatibility allowing developers to run their projects on any of the mentioned systems of platforms.

Unreal Engine does not offer backward compatibility. While projects of Unreal Engine 4 can be transferred and run on Unreal Engine 5, the opposite is not possible.

Faster Rendering Technology

Unreal Engine is renowned for its ability to offer faster rendering of photorealistic visuals than other tools. With key elements like parallel processing, precomputed lighting and streaming technology, Unreal Engine is able to complete renders in real time.

Vast Asset Library And Marketplace

Besides the already available tools and features, Unreal Engine has a marketplace for developers where they can access free and paid tools for 3D projects. Additionally, developers can import assets or build them within the engine using the vast library that can be shared across different projects.

Highly Scalable Results

Unreal Engine’s scalability settings allow developers to mold a game as per the platform or the hardware configurations. This way, UE can be used to build games for low end, as well as, high end devices.

Free Unreal Engine Gaming Tool

Since its launch, Unreal Engine has remained an open source or free-to-use game development tool. It charges nothing even after the publication of the game or any project build in it. However, its royalty clause mentions the cut of 5% once the project generates gross revenue of over 1 million.

Choose US For Affordable Unreal Engine Game Development Services?

Unreal Engine is without a doubt a great tool for developing games. However, only a professional will be able to correctly use every feature, tool and asset on the platform to build a highly immersive and realistic game. Suffescom Solutions is a top Unreal Engine game development company and can help you achieve your objective the right way.

Over 13 Years of Experience

Suffescom has been developing games since 2013. We have helped build games for clients across the globe for over 13 years.

Free First Consultation

Have a free first consultation with our tech team. Discuss the scope of your project, the tech requirements, etc. to get the time and cost estimation.

Skilled Unreal Engine Developers

Our team consists of over 750 professionals. Our tech team consists of selective members from all over the world.

Post Deployment Support

We offer post-deployment maintenance and support services. We keep track of your game’s performance and make the necessary updates to maintain the output.

Are you ready to launch your Unreal Engine Game? Reach out to our team to disucuss the specifics of your project and get started today!

• Unreal Engine Game Development
• Unreal Engine Game
• UNREAL ENGINE FOR GAME DEVELOPMENT