GameMaker Engine to Become Free for Everyone

Starting January 1, 2027, GameMaker will be free for commercial use on PC, mobile and the web. Developers will be able to make and sell games without buying a Professional license.

GameMaker is a popular engine for 2D games. Its users include Toby Fox, the creator of Deltarune, as well as the developers of Shelldivers and UFO 50. Until now, commercial use of the technology required payment.

The engine’s developers announced that GMRT, the new generation of the runtime, will let creators release games for free on PC, mobile devices, browsers and the GX Games platform.

These changes build on the GMRT source code access announced earlier this year and are meant to make GameMaker’s tools more accessible to indie developers.

Source code access will be available at every license tier. Professional license holders will keep the ability to sell games built on the previous GMS2 version, and they will also get access to its source code.

Releasing games on consoles will still require an Enterprise license and approved developer status. The prices of the remaining licenses will not change.

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