GameMaker published a post titled “GMRT Update: Free for Commercial Use and Source Access” on 22 October 2026. The short version, in the company’s own words: GameMaker is making its next-generation runtime, GMRT, free for commercial use.
The change takes effect 1 January 2027.
What actually changes
Three things, and they are worth separating because they have different scopes.
1. Commercial publishing on GMRT becomes free. From 1 January, studios can build and release games on desktop, mobile, web and GX Games without paying for the runtime. That is the headline, and the platform list is the fine print — see below.
2. Source access arrives on every tier. GMRT source code access applies across every tier, not just Enterprise. Separately, Professional licence holders also get GMS2 runtime source access.
3. Nothing gets more expensive. Pricing for the existing tiers is unchanged, and current Professional holders keep the ability to commercially distribute games built on the existing GMS2 runtime.
What does not change
Console export still requires an Enterprise licence and approved-developer status, on either runtime. PlayStation, Xbox and Switch are outside the free-commercial-use grant, and that is not a GameMaker quirk — console SDKs come with platform-holder NDAs and approval processes that no engine vendor can licence away on your behalf.
So the accurate way to state it is: free commercial publishing to the four platforms you can self-publish to anyway, which is still a real and substantial change, just not “free console games.”
GMRT also continues to roll out in beta across platforms. This is a licensing announcement about a runtime that is not finished, with a date two months out.
The vendor’s own pricing page still says the opposite
Worth flagging, because it will catch people. At the time of writing, GameMaker’s public /get page still describes the previous policy: that GMRT will be free for non-commercial use, and that commercial release asks for a Professional licence. It also still lists Source Code Access as an Enterprise-tier feature only.
That is the pre-announcement position. The blog post is the newer document and the one that states the 1 January terms. We note the discrepancy rather than resolving it: if you are making a purchasing decision in the next few weeks, the pricing page is not yet describing the policy the company has announced.
This is the second time in two days we have found a vendor’s framing and a vendor’s documentation disagreeing — Bria’s FIBO 2.0 advertises “100% licensed training data” while its weights ship non-commercial. In both cases the primary source settles it, and in both cases the marketing page is the thing that is wrong.
Why this matters beyond GameMaker
GameMaker’s business model has moved repeatedly — a subscription era, then a one-time-fee restructure, then free non-commercial use. Each move has pushed the paid boundary further out, and this one pushes it to the console door.
The source-access half is the more unusual part. Engine runtime source is normally the thing vendors hold back hardest, because it is both the crown jewels and the support nightmare. Handing it to every tier, including free users, is a bigger structural concession than the fee change, and it is the part that will matter in five years — a runtime you can read is a runtime you can still ship on after the vendor loses interest.
For anyone who has watched an engine’s licensing terms change underneath a shipped game, that is not an abstract benefit.
If you are weighing it up
- GMRT is beta. Treat the 1 January date as when the licence changes, not when the runtime is production-ready.
- If you are mid-project on GMS2 with a Professional licence, nothing breaks: you keep commercial distribution rights, and you now also get GMS2 runtime source.
- If you are targeting console, budget for Enterprise regardless of runtime.
- If you are starting a desktop/mobile/web project in 2027, the runtime cost is now zero.
Sources
- GMRT Update: Free for Commercial Use and Source Access — GameMaker
- GameMaker pricing and tiers (still showing the previous terms)
- GameMaker’s new runtime will become free for commercial use — 80 Level