A little bit late with this news, but BigWorld Tech have made an extraordinary announcement with some new licensing plans for their MMO suite of tools and engine, with the aim of knabbing interest from indie developers and schools.
To break down the new licenses:
- Indie license: max 10,000 subscribers, no source code, 25 seats, 10% royalty = $299 (US) annually
- Indie Source license: source code, all of the above and access to more plugins, $2,999 (US) annually
- Academic license: Similar to the Indie license, no source code, (US) $299 for up to 25 students per year
The commercial license runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and so is only for serious ventures only, but with these new licenses, prototyping and testing your MMO ideas is an extremely affordable option with BigWorld Tech...
So why is BigWorld Tech doing this just now? Well, from the FAQ on their website...
Indie developers have been asking for an affordable version of BigWorld Technology from the day we started licensing it. We think that we're now in a position to make it available.
Additionally, getting a groundswell of engineers, artists and developers who are familiar with the scope and capabilities of BigWorld Technology going forward can only be a good thing for game development, our commercial customers and the gaming public. The Mod and Indie scene is arguably stronger and better positioned than ever before in the brief history of game development, and many of these groups want to try their hand at Virtual or graphical social worlds or MMOs.
More details at the following link...