GameMaker Is Growing, Celebrate With More Free Options This Thanksgiving

Russell Kay
21st November 2023
GameMaker News
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Hi everyone, 

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. 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.

Why This Change?

To say 'Thank You'! Since we joined the Opera family, GameMaker has seen a three-fold increase in its active users! Lots of young people came to try GameMaker, over 6,000 games were published on gx.games, and as a result of the product evolution, GameMaker is now better than ever. And a bonus! It can now also be used to create animated live wallpapers that can live in the Opera GX browser or directly in Windows. That’s just a start, though - all our asset bundles will now be free for everyone.

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? Our success is measured by the number of people making games!

So…

Here we are - Happy Thanksgiving! The new pricing structure reflects GameMaker's commitment to making game development more accessible and flexible. The free version serves as an entry point for beginners, a one-time commercial fee is for the curious ones, while the subscription-based enterprise tier provides a scalable option for more experienced developers and professionals.

Oh, If you’re already an existing subscriber, you may be entitled to a free commercial licence (or a discount)! Check out our FAQ for all the details.

Happy GameMaking!
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Written by Russell Kay
Russell Kay is Head of GameMaker. Born at an early age, Russell has been in the games industry for over 30 years and is using that experience to help guide GameMaker as it grows. Along the way, he helped write Lemmings, Grand Theft Auto, Medal of Honor, Harry Potter Quidditch, and F1.
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