In an example of how to be awesome, progressive, and just generally awesome, Epic Games has made their immensely popular Unreal Engine 4 available to everyone for free. You, me, that guy over there, everyone. Epic made the announcement today, confirming they won’t be charging for it, as well as all future updates. This is obviously great news, but it’s especially good for indie devs, many of whom can’t afford the exorbitant costs that come with video games development.

The Unreal Engine 3 quickly became the go-to engine of choice for most developers, who used it to power everything from the Batman: Arkham series to Killing Floor 2, BioShock Infinite and Aliens: Colonial Marines. Okay, that last might not be a great example, but there are hundreds of games that look they way they did because of it.

It even powers the upcoming Mortal Kombat X, albeit a heavily modified version of it.

So far, its successor is already being used by a growing number of studios, including the makers of Hellblade, Caffeine, Dead Island 2 and Let it Die, among others.

The impact this could have for developers is monumental and something I’m looking forward to seeing over the next few years, but it’s worth mentioning that its use isn’t limited to games. Architects, filmmakers, students — the possibilities are practically endless.

For anyone who’s looking to make money off their Unreal-powered projects, Epic will take a 5% share of the gross revenue “after the first $3,000 per product, per quarter.”