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German tools firm and game developer Crytek has no plans to join the race to zero when it comes to its high-end CryEngine technology.
Earlier this week, the firm’s rival Epic Games announced Unreal Engine 4 would become free to everyone, positioning itself in direct competition with Unity Technologies, which released the hotly anticipated Unity 5.
Speaking to GamaSutra at GDC, Crytek’s director of production David Bowman said the firm will be maintaining its current offer of a royalty-free $9.90 monthly subscription – a business model it launched at last year’s conference.
"At this point we see no reason [to drop the fee]," he said. "We want to get that right before we try to do a different model that requires a different support system.
"$9.90 is a lunch here in San Francisco. If you’re treating your team to lunch once a month, you might as well treat them to our engine."
Crytek released a new trailer for CryEngine earlier this week, showcasing the latest and most important features of the technology, which you can see below.
"We’ve been focused on making the most powerful engine – getting that first, making it bleeding edge," said Bowman, adding that Crytek is now focused on "more robust tools. We’re working on documentation, working on our process. We know to be successful, we have to grow our users, our community – that means giving them a good experience."
For more GDC 2015 news, head to www.develop-onlinet.net/gdc
