This week has seen at least two big companies announcing that their latest game engines will be free-to-use provided other conditions are met as well. However, Crytek has no such plans to make their CryEngine free to use.
Speaking to GamaSutra at GDC, Crytek's director of production David Bowman said that Crytek planned to stick to their business mode that they introduced at last year's GDC event - that of a royalty-free $9.90 monthly subscription.
"At this point we see no reason [to drop the fee]," he said. "We want to get that right before we try to do a different model that requires a different support system. We've been focused on making the most powerful engine... We're working on documentation, working on our process. We know to be successful, we have to grow our users, our community – that means giving them a good experience."
Earlier in the week Epic Games announced that their Unreal Engine 4 was going to become free to use for everyone, and when Valve announced their Source 2 engine they emphasised that it would be free for developers and mod-makers alike.