These days, the name Epic Games is mostly associated the wildly-popular Fortnite, but, of course, they’re also the creators of Unreal Engine, which powers a large portion of your favorite games. Well, it seems the runaways success of Fortnite has resulted in an unexpected bonus for Unreal Engine creators.

　　The Unreal Engine Marketplace allows Unreal creators to sell and purchase pre-made assets to be used in games. Previously, the revenue made from these assets was divided 70/30 – the creators got 70 percent, Epic got 30, which is a pretty standard split for digital stores. Now creators will receive a more generous 88 percent of their product sales. Even better, the change is retroactive -- Unreal Engine Marketplace creators will be receiving backpay for all sales since 2014. Nice!

　　According to Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney, this generous move is the result of the company suddenly having more money than they know what to do with.

　　“Thanks to both the Marketplace’s growth and the success of Fortnite, Epic now conducts a huge volume of digital commerce. The resulting economies of scale enable us to pass the savings along to the Unreal Engine Marketplace community, while also making a healthy profit for Epic.”

　　Needless to say, Unreal Engine creators, like Michael Allar of Gamemakin LLC, are excited about the change…

　　"Epic has proven time and time again that they do what they can to do right by the sellers on the platform. This is something that many sellers lose sight of, regardless of engine or platform, when working with marketplaces day to day. It is incredibly refreshing and even inspiring when a giant like Epic is able to move forward with such a strong move that will not just help sellers on the Unreal Engine Marketplace but should eventually ripple to all sellers of all game assets around the world.”

　　Of course, Epic’s move isn’t purely altruistic – they want as many people using Unreal Engine as possible, and giving asset creators a better deal gives them an edge over competitors. Still, giving something back when things are hot isn’t something you see from a lot of companies, so kudos.