Thousands of indie devs have published their games digitally in the last few decades, but only a select few have had the money and the drive to make a physical release for their well-crafted titles. That’s about to change with the introduction of The Unreal Box Offer, a partnership between Epic Games and independent publisher Sold Out that will see indie developers receiving up to $500,000 to publish a physical version of their game with very few strings attached.
Aside from a the money, Sold Out will be lending their publishing expertise to indie developers who successfully apply to the program. Getting a physical product produced can be a bit of a headache, but Sold Out is confident that they’ll be able to leverage their knowledge in the industry and help indie devs make their physical sales a success.
The Unreal Box Offer has, of course, several stipulations. (After all, no company worth their salt is going to hand a developer a sack of cash without at least a few conditions.) According to The Unreal Box Offer website, Sold Out is taking applications from any game that meets the following criteria:
- The game must be made in the Unreal engine.
- The game must have a scheduled release date in 2019–2020.
- The indie developer must not already have a publishing agreement in place for a physical copy.
Sold Out states that they won’t require developers to turn over any portion of their IP to participate in The Unreal Box Offer. One thing is a bit unclear about the project, however: how will Sold Out recoup their investment? Presumably, they would take a portion of the sales or something like that, but the page detailing The Unreal Box Offer doesn’t specify the exact nature of this relationship.
In any case, The Unreal Box Offer seems like a pretty sweet deal for indie developers who are looking to release their games in the next year or two. Interested qualifying developers can apply at the website for The Unreal Box Offer.
[via GamesIndustry.biz]
