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So, this is massive news and yet another reason why games not having a Linux version should become a thing of the past. Epic Games has announced Unreal Engine 4 with Linux support and not just in exporting, the toolkit will be native too.

QuoteThis first release of Unreal Engine 4 is just the beginning. In the C++ code, you can see many new initiatives underway, for example to support Oculus VR, Linux, Valve’s Steamworks and Steam Box efforts, and deployment of games to web browsers via HTML5. It’s all right there, in plain view, on day one of many years of exciting and open development ahead!


It is still early days yet and will be improved upon in later versions of UE4, I got confirmation from an Epic Games developer that it will include the ability to create Unreal Engine 4 games on Linux directly, this is probably the icing on the cake!

@gamingonlinux @gbfan Yes, the work started to support native development under Linux.

Dmitry Rekman (@RCL) March 19, 2014


It's cheap too, you can pay a mere $19 a month and get access everything, including the full source code. You only need to pay them back 5% of your gross revenue if you ship your title commercially too.

Find all the info in their blog post announcing it here.

This is after GOG.com announced Linux support & Crytek announced Linux support for CRYENGINE too, this is a crazy penguin fuelled time we live in and I welcome all of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PD5cRnrMqWw Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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26 comments
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Nobody of Import Mar 22, 2014
I hope that there's some kind of apology. It would be very sad for them to get away without even acknowledging it (given the excitement I've spotted so far, nobody seems to think they should be accountable for their past actions).

There probably WON'T be any of that forthcoming. To do so, would be to either slander/libel Icculus or to own that they failed to pay him in a timely manner for work done prior to the split in the sheets, an apology to him, and the like. I don't know if they ever caught him up with what they owed him, even.

The Dungeon Defenders port was done by the fellow who worked on the original unreleased UE3 port using the published Windows/Mac engine source code that Epic make available and his own experience. Since then, at least two more games using that engine have arrived on Linux. Painkiller: Hell & Damnation, ported by The Farm 51's former Linux person, and Papo & Yo, which was apparently ported internally by Minority.

None of these games were done using vendor provided Linux support from Epic. To my knowledge, the situation is as it has always been so far as the engine is concerned. Linux support was promised and never delivered.

Yep. That's the summation of what went on there. It was close enough to done to almost call it so- enough that a good enough dev could've finished it for their game with minimal problems. Epic's been avoiding the subject on that score because it's a legal quagmire beyond words...mostly of their own making. The official support you're seeing here (including asset chain support) may well be the only apology the community may ever get from them on this.
Nobody of Import Mar 22, 2014
this is the snowball effect
thanks Valve :))

To those that said that they weren't doing it for Linux...you all owe us a big apology. Keep in mind, I was privy to the goings on and saw the truth of it coming and had to laugh at all of them while they were talking out their backsides on that one.
Cheeseness Mar 22, 2014
There probably WON'T be any of that forthcoming. To do so, would be to either slander/libel Icculus or to own that they failed to pay him in a timely manner for work done prior to the split in the sheets, an apology to him, and the like. I don't know if they ever caught him up with what they owed him, even.

I don't think this would require portraying Ryan in a poor light or bringing up the state of old accounts (and here doesn't really feel like an appropriate place to be speculating on that sort of thing). Epic don't need to offer an explanation of why what happened happened, just public acknowledgment that they promised something and never bothered to communicate to their customers that that couldn't be fulfilled (regardless of who was "at fault" ). Companies make these kinds of statements all the time, although usually not so long after the fact.
Anonymous Mar 24, 2014
Epic Games is Epic
neffo Mar 29, 2014
and get access everything, including the full source code
Keep in mind though, that despite what other news sites have reported, while this might technically be "open source", you're not getting free (as in speech) software. It will not be GPL (nevermind any more permissive licenses), and earlier engines won't be GPL'd either.

From what I've read, there's no info yet on how exactly the license will look or how code contributions will be handled.

I believe that is only because they didn't want to call it GNU/UnrealEngine4.
Cheeseness Mar 31, 2014
Keep in mind though, that despite what other news sites have reported, while this might technically be "open source", you're not getting free (as in speech) software. It will not be GPL (nevermind any more permissive licenses), and earlier engines won't be GPL'd either.

From what I've read, there's no info yet on how exactly the license will look or how code contributions will be handled.
I believe that is only because they didn't want to call it GNU/UnrealEngine4.

There are plenty of other "open source" licences beyond the GPL or other GNU licences. I haven't read the UE4 licence in full, but skimming it gives the impression that it would have a hard time fitting the OSI's definition of an "open source" licence.
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